


the arms of the ocean

by BisKitty, RinChanSanMatsuoka



Category: Free!
Genre: Alternate History, Alternate Universe - Merpeople, Alternate Universe - Pirate, Childhood Sweethearts, Fluff, Found Family, Friends to Lovers, Golden Age of Piracy, M/M, Magic, Merpeople, Non-descript injuries, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pirates, Rating May Change, Selkies, a "what if japan opened up much earlier and participated in the golden age of piracy" au, japan looks like meiji era but set much earlier basically
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-05
Updated: 2017-07-05
Packaged: 2018-11-28 10:34:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 26,447
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11416113
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BisKitty/pseuds/BisKitty, https://archiveofourown.org/users/RinChanSanMatsuoka/pseuds/RinChanSanMatsuoka
Summary: Men and mermaids have remained separate for ages. When a group of merchildren are raised by a band of pirates, magic and humanity start to mix once more...





	the arms of the ocean

**Author's Note:**

> RinChan: This fic has been in the works for so long and we're so glad to finally post it!
> 
> BisKitty: I CAN'T WAIT FOR SOUSUKE IN CHAPTER 2

Rin was antsy to explore.  The pod of merpeople had stopped in a secluded cove for a brief period of rest during their journey north.  It allowed the children a chance to play, which was what Rin was intent on doing.

The little merman swam off from the group, fascinated by cove they had stopped in, since it was his first time here.  While he had been lying on his back on top of the water, he had spotted a strange stick jutting up from the sea floor.  The top of it was sticking above the surface and it sparked Rin’s curiosity.  When he dove down to investigate, he saw it was connected to a large sunken structure.  It was one of the big things he'd seen occasionally atop the water, which the older merpeople had told him were called ships.  These ships apparently allowed humans to travel across the sea, so it was the perfect thing to explore!

Popping back to the surface, Rin swam over to a outcropping of rocks, waving at the two people sunning atop them.  "Haru!  Gou!  I found something interesting!!"

While Haru preferred to spend most of his time floating around underwater and feeling the push and pull of the ocean, from time to time, he did indulge in allowing himself and his seal skin to dry out in the sun.  Gou was usually ideal company for this, because unlike a certain other redheaded mermaid, she kept idle chatter to a minimum and seemed content to amuse herself by making seaweed baskets.

When Rin when he made his sudden appearance, Gou glanced over at him.  "What did you find?" she asked.     
  
Haru, for his part, simply continued to relax on the outcropping.  Whatever it was that Rin had found, it sounded like it was a lot of effort that Haru didn't really want to bother with.

Hauling himself up onto the rocks, and accidentally splashing the other two in the process and earning a piercing glare from Haru, Rin grinned and pointed to where he had found the ship.  "A sunken ship!  You know, those weird, big things humans use to travel across the sea!  We should explore it!"  He stretched out on the rocks and gave his siblings a pleading look.

Gou swished her tail a little, while very pointedly not looking at Rin.  "I'm not sure, Rin... Mama always says those human things are dangerous."

Haru nodded in agreement.  "Too much effort," he added in, making a point to get even more comfortable on his warm rock.

Oblivious to Haru's glare, Rin simply let out a whine when they turned down his idea.  "But it'll be fun!  We might never find another one like this, so we should explore it while we can!"  He wiggled further onto the rock to shake Haru's shoulder.  "You can nap later!"

With a hissing noise, Haru immediately swatted Rin's hand away. "We're moving on soon," he grumbled and averted his gaze.  He wanted to get as much rest as he could, since it was sometimes a struggle for him to keep up with the long migration of the merpeople.

Rin deflated, pouting as he pulled his hand away from Haru.  "But I'm bored..."  Napping didn't interest him, especially not when there were interesting things to explore!

"Amuse yourself, then."  He  turned onto his side so he could face away from Rin.

"F-Fine!  I'll go by myself then!"  Rin huffed and his lip was most definitely  _ not _ trembling as he jumped off the rock into the water.   
  
Gou bit her lip.  "I don't want Rin to go alone..."

Haru spared her a brief glance.

Not wasting much more time, Gou sat up straight and jumped into the water after Rin.

Haru was as quick to move, but had to wrap his skin around himself before he could re-enter the water.  He took a deep breath before plunging down after the siblings.

Sulking, Rin refused to look back at the others when he heard them jump in the water after him.  He took a deep breath, feeling his gills open up against his ribs as he switched his method of respiration.

Matching Rin's pace, Gou reached out to try to grab onto his hand to get him to slow down.  "Wait!"

Haru, for his part, was trying to close the gap between himself and his siblings.

Jerked to a halt, Rin turned to his sister with a pout firmly on his lips.  "You didn't hafta come!  I thought you wanted to nap," he grumbled, glancing over at Haru when the selkie caught up to them.

Haru looked away.

"You know we can't just let you run off to a sunken ship on your own!" Gou gave Rin the patented Matsuoka lip wobble.

"Why not?  I'm not a baby!"  Sure he was little, but he wasn't  _ that _ little!

"You sound like a baby," Haru responded telepathically.  One of the benefits of being a selkie, he supposed, was the ability to send his thoughts to his pod and hold his breath for longer than most seals could even dream of.

Gou huffed.  These two could be so childish!

"I'm not a baby, Haru!  You're such a meanie!"  Rin turned, swatting Haru with his tail before trying to swim away from them again.

Haru whined a little when Rin swatted him with his tail and Gou took off right after Rin again.

"Rin!  Wait!" she called out, while Haru tried to keep up with them.

"No!  I'm gonna go explore!"  Rin put on a burst of speed to get away from them, aiming for the ship that rested just up ahead.  Numerous holes dotted the the barnacle-covered side of the ship.  Seaweed grew out through the cracks, reaching up towards the surface.  From what Rin could see, the inside was dark, which made him hesitate for a moment.  But then he remembered that he was out to prove that he wasn’t a baby.

Rin darted through an opening in the side of the ship, not caring if his siblings had followed him, intent on exploring like he had wanted.  The inside was huge for someone his size but despite that, he had to avoid broken planks and jagged walls caused by the wreck.  The darkness felt oppressive compared to the water outside the ship, because the light from the sun couldn't penetrate the wooden exterior.

Gou was still younger than the other two, so she had trouble matching Rin's pace. Both Gou and Haru lagged progressively further behind Rin. 

When she reached the ship, she stopped to wait for Haru while fidgeting with her hands. Once Haru arrived, her lip wobbled briefly before she spoke,  "I don't know where he went.”

Haru gently nudged her with his head towards a large opening in the ship.

Gou hesitated.  "Are you sure?"  It looked dark... and creepy.  What if… humans were still inside?  She shivered at all the tales her parents had told of humans - strapping merpeople to the front of ships, kidnapping them for shows, drinking their blood for eternal life, murdering all the sea life…

Haru nuzzled her gently before diving into the opening.

Gou took a deep breath before following him in.  "Rin...?"

Hearing his name, Rin swam up through a hole he had dove through, peeking out at his siblings.  "I'm over here," he said, waving to them.  "Be careful, though, it's dark in here."

With no hesitation, Gou swam over to cling onto him.  It was colder and darker than she was used to.

Haru knocked his head against Rin's once he’d swum over to the other boy.  "Gou doesn't like it in here."

Butting heads with Haru, Rin huffed a bit and wrapped his arms around his sister.  "We won't stay long but I wanna see what's at the bottom.  Gou, you can stay up here if you want."

Gou scrunched up her face at that.  "Dummy!  Waiting alone would be worse!"

“Then come with me!"  With that, Rin grabbed her hand and pulled her through the hole he had just come through.

Gou followed, feeling a cold shiver go up her spine.  How could this be fun to explore?  There was bound to be something scary lurking within, she just knew it.

Haru quietly followed after them, increasing his pace a little to swim alongside Rin.

Rin swam slowly, poking at every item he came across.  There was a broad set of wooden boards, with other boards attached at a lower elevation.  Scattered around the big plank were weird cubes with marks and other decorative boards.  Strange.  On the very top, the planks had some round objects with a red crust on them that flaked as soon as Rin poked at them.  Wiping his hand off on his tail, Rin turned around to poke at the round cylinders of wood, with more of the crusty red stuff on the weird rings holding the wood together.  What could these cylinders be for?  Were they filled with stuff?   


"What do you think made it sink?" he asked, glancing between his siblings.

Gou stuck close to Rin, and looked around nervously.  There could still be humans wandering the corridors.

"Other humans," Haru said quietly, before scooting to the far edge of the room.

Holding his sister's hand, Rin watched as Haru swam off to look around.  "Why would other humans do this to each other...?"

Haru didn't respond.

Gou squeezed Rin's hand a little.  "They do nasty things to us... and the ocean... Maybe they're mean?"

"Maybe...  I wonder what it'd be like to meet one..." Rin mused.

Haru nudged a door open before turning to glance at his siblings. "Look," he said.

Gou ducked behind Rin, though she peeked around his side to look through the door..

The two found themselves looking into what remained of the galley.  Inside was another set of decrepit, old planks which were covered in rusted silverware and some rotting food.  Further back, there was a smaller, even more vile area littered with more red-crusted objects in all sorts of odd shapes.

Upon closer inspection, a fully clothed skeleton could be seen laying up against one of the walls.

Gou jerked back, swimming as fast as she could away from it, and further into the ship.

Rin stared at the remains, eyes wide.  He swam back with his sister, clinging to her when he caught up.  "H-Haru, let's go!"

Haru stared at the remains for a few moments longer than Rin, tailing behind him as they went to catch up with Gou.

Gou was curled up in another dark room, sobbing.  She leaned close to Rin and sobbed into his chest when he swam up to her.  After nudging the door open, Haru nuzzled up to them.  He wanted to say 'I told you so', but held his tongue.

Rin wrapped his arms tightly around his sister, letting her cry and cling to him.  When Haru joined them, he shifted so the selkie could join the hug.  "W-We'll go now, alright Gou?"

But as he moved to pull her towards the exit, the ship let out a loud groan and began to shift, changing its precarious balance on the sea bottom.  The old, water-rotten wood began to crack under its own weight, blocking their previous exit, while leaving a small split in the wall, leading further into the ship.  

The falling planks sent Rin scurrying back while Gou let out a cry.  Rin held his sister close, trying not to let either of them get crushed.  Once things settled, he glanced at his siblings to see if they were safe.

Haru's immediate instinct had been to squish close to one of the walls and hope for the best.  Once things had appeared to settle, he swam back over to the merchildren.  "We need to go."

Shaken up, Rin nodded and tried to put on a brave face for his sister.  "C-C'mon, Gou.  We'll go through that opening and find another way out, alright?"

Gou nodded, following her brother to the small opening in the wall.  Once there, she hesitated.  "It's small…  Will Haru be able to come along?"

Haru swam up to take a closer look at it.  "If I squeeze, I will be fine."

"We can go first and try to hold it open more for Haru," Rin said, before wiggling himself through the opening.

As a seal used to cold waters, Haru had quite a bit more blubber than either of the merchildren.  He waited for Gou to squeeze through as well before he attempted to push through.

He got fairly far in, trying to use a flipper to pull himself through, but found himself wincing in pain as some of the splintered wood began to dig into his sides.

Staying close to the opening, Gou put her hand on Haru's forehead.  "D-don't hurt yourself.  We'll…," she looked around for something, anything, "We'll find a way to get you through."  Her voice shook slightly.

Rin bit his lip as Haru got stuck, feeling his heart jump into his throat.  Getting as close to the opening as he could, he tried to hold up one of the fallen planks to give Haru some more room.  "G-Gou, is there anything we can use to hold it up?"

Haru shook his head.  "Don't disturb the ship."

Gou felt sick at the thought of the ship shifting again and hurting Haru even more.  "C-can we pull him through?"

Carefully, Rin let the plank go, worry eating away at his stomach.  "W-We'll try pulling you through."

"Suck in your breath.  We'll get you to the surface, alright?" Gou pressed closer towards Haru, gently patting at him.

Haru tried not to panic.  He had to stay calm, if only for his siblings. Trying to ignore the poking at his sides, he took a few moments to center himself. Once ready, he nodded at them before trying to suck in his chest without expelling all the air.

Gou grabbed one of his fins and tried to kick off the side of the wall, pulling Haru towards them.

Haru felt the shards of wood scrape along his tail, as the wall started to cave in from the force.  Part of his flipper was caught in the wreckage and probably broken, but the rest of him was free. Feeling his eyes sting with tears, Haru tried to curl up into a ball.

As Rin and Gou pushed off the wall, the smell of blood assaulted their senses.  Gou felt ill at the metallic tang of blood in the water.  "Rin, go find an exit," she said, sitting by Haru and trying to gently remove his flipper from the wreckage.

Trying not to focus on the blood, Rin nodded shakily and swam around, frantically trying to find an exit. 

While Rin was searching for an exit, Gou tried to bind up some of the wounds with the seaweed she had been working with earlier.  She sniffled and hugged Haru close while they waited for Rin.  She just wanted to go home.

Haru winced and tried not to whine as Gou tended to his tail.  He felt the stabbing pain and felt so ill he almost wanted to faint.  

In the meantime, Rin had found a hole leading out the back of the ship and carefully pried a few rotten boards away to make it larger.  Quickly swimming back to the others, he flanked Haru's other side to help him swim.

By the time Gou and Rin started to move him, Haru just felt  _ tired _ .

Gou swam faster than she ever thought she could.  They had to save Haru!  They had to!  He'd been their sibling ever since the pod stumbled across a lost selkie with no home to speak of.  Haru had been Rin's age... so he had been taken in and raised with both Rin and Gou.  She could barely remember a time before Haru had lived with them.

As they swam out of the ship, Rin simply aimed for the surface and the shore, figuring that it would be best if Haru found somewhere to lie down.  He had seen a few openings in the cliff sides along the shore when he'd been swimming around earlier and he decided that would be a good hiding spot should anyone or anything outside their pod decide to come by.

Rin popped his head out of the water once they reached the surface, trying to hold Haru up with his small arms.  "W-We'll hide in there," he said, pointing to the closest cave, "and wait for the pod to find us."

Haru took rattled, gasping breaths when they finally surfaced.  The oxygen  _ burned  _ while still filling Haru with a sense of relief.  The cuts on his tail stung horribly in the saltwater.

"S-shouldn't one of us go find them?"  Gou tried not to fidget, as she didn't want to disturb Haru. "We'll need to wrap up Haru's tail better... and get food."

Rin forced himself to put on a brave face as he looked at his sister.  "Y-You go.  I'm stronger so I can pull Haru onto the shore."  He glanced around, trying to see if he could spot anyone but the surface was empty of merfolk and the sky was growing dark.  "H-Hurry, before the sun goes down."  With that, he pulled Haru out of Gou's arms and swam towards the cave.

Getting to the shore proved harder than Rin thought it would be but when they finally made it, he dragged both of them over the small strip of sand that led into the cave.  It was damp inside, but dry enough that salt water wouldn't aggravate Haru's wound anymore.

"U-Um, take... take your skin off, m-maybe that'll be easier..."

Once they were settled in the sand, Haru nodded weakly at Rin.  He shakily wiggled out of his skin, before gently laying it down and curling up on top of it.  His legs were covered in gashes and seaweed, and one of his feet had turned a reddish purple, and was probably broken.  There was no way he'd be able to swim any time soon. 

* * *

After the boys swam off, Gou looked for the pod.  And she looked again.

She swam another circle around the area.

Had she remembered wrong?  She had thought this is where they were staying, but nobody was there.  She recognized some rocks they had moved, and coral she and Rin had poked at.  This had to be the place.  They wouldn't leave them.

She tried calling out names.  "Mama?  Anyone? ... someone...?"  Maybe they had gone looking for the kids.

* * *

Rin's stomach churned at the sight of Haru’s foot and his brave facade crumbled.  A sob wrenched its way out of his throat and he reached over to cling to Haru's hand.  This was all his fault!  Why did he have to act like such a brat sometimes?

Haru weakly reached up to pat Rin's face.  "You helped me," he said, trying to put on a brave face.  Anyone other than Rin or Gou probably would've just left him behind.  It had happened before.

How was he going to keep up with the migration now...?  He squeezed Rin's hand a little.  Haru certainly didn't remember the hushed discussions he had overheard.  He didn't.  He didn't hear the adults talk about how slow he was.  Nor did he overhear that his need to surface for air so frequently made the pod more visible... and put them in more danger.

At least they wouldn't leave Rin or Gou behind.

Sobbing, Rin laid down beside his brother and clung to his hand.  "I-I'm sorry...  I wanted to explore... a-and... and it's my fault!"  He felt helpless, not knowing what to do to fix Haru's leg.

Haru curled closer towards his brother, shaking his head.  "You got me out of there."

Rin might've been reckless, but as far as Haru was concerned, Rin got him out of there and hadn't left him behind.  So he had more than made up for any risk they had taken because of him.

"I-I'm still sorry..."  Sniffling, Rin rubbed at his eyes, trying to stop the tears.  "I-I'm sure the grownups will help!"

Snuggling a little closer to Rin, Haru gave a weak nod.  "m'tired," he mumbled.  Maybe when he woke up, Gou would be back…

* * *

Rin waited until Haru fell asleep before moving.  He checked his foot, wincing at how swollen it was.  Unsure of what else to do, he carefully put more seaweed around the injury, hoping that it might help.

Gou didn't return until close to sunset.  She pulled herself up onto the sandy outcropping before finally letting out a shaky sob.  "I couldn't find them, Rin.  What are we going to do?"  They were just kids!  And Haru was so hurt…  
  


Rin started to cry again when Gou returned with bad news and fear gripped his chest.  "M-Maybe... they w-went looking for us... a-and they'll find us in the morning!"

Gou nodded at that.  "I left an arrow of rocks pointing towards the cave back at the resting site... maybe they'll come back and find us."  She sniffled and scooted close to Rin.  "How is Haru...?"

Rin sniffled as well and pressed close to his sister.  "Tired...  I d-don't know what to do about his foot...  A-And my tail feels funny..."

"Maybe we should sleep and they'll come find us in the morning?" Gou offered. 

"Yeah..." Rin laid down and clung to his sister's hand.

Gou got settled in the sand near Haru and tried to make herself as comfortable as she could.  As exhausted as she was, she wasn't sure if she could settle down enough to sleep.

It took some time before the two of them finally fell asleep, their exhaustion overcoming their fear.

* * *

Rin wasn't sure how long he slept for but when he woke up, sunlight was filtering into the little cave.  Shifting, he frowned sleepily as his lower half moved strangely.  Looking down, he was greeted not by his tail but by a pair of legs, like the ones Haru had whenever he took off his skin.

Gou stirred when Rin woke up.  She rubbed her eyes and looked up at him.  "Hm?"

Glancing at his sister, Rin noticed that she was just like him.  "We have legs," he whispered, torn between awe and horror.

Gou stared down at where her tail should've been in utter disbelief.  "I-Is this supposed to happen?"  What if the ship had cursed them?  What if they couldn't go back to their pod?

"I... I d-don't know?"  Trying to fight back his panic, Rin tried to stand like he'd seen Haru do.  Instead of standing, he stumbled and fell back to the sand, his legs wobbly and unsure.

Gou pulled her tail- no, her legs, close to her chest while she sniffled miserably.  "I want to go home."  If she could just curl close to her mother and have her say that this was all just a bad dream, that Haru was fine, the pod was there, and they had all the clams and fish to eat.

Her stomach grumbled at the thought of food.

Staring at his legs, Rin poked at them for a bit before looking at Gou.  "I-Is there stuff on shore we could eat...?"

Gou looked down at the sand.  "We can't walk like this... I don't know i f we can swim.  We can't leave Haru...  But can one of us hunt alone?  What if we get hurt too?" Why wasn't the pod there yet?

"I...  I don't know...  Maybe the pod will be back s-soon...?"  They had to have realized that they were gone, right?

"Mama is definitely looking for us...  So is everyone else.  They have to be."

"Y-Yeah...  I'm... gonna try walking again..."

"I'll stay with Haru." Much as she would sitting on a rock with her tail, Gou used her arms to drag herself across the sandy floor and over to Haru. Once she was there, she shook her arms a little from the new exertion. It was easier to pull herself along rocks than sand, but she had to stay strong...  Haru needed them.

She took a deep breath before gently checking on his wounds.

Nodding, Rin shifted his legs around, trying to get used to their presence before making several more attempts to stand.  On his fifth attempt, he finally managed to get off the ground and he wobbled to the front of the cave.

Gou looked over at Rin.  "Stay close, alright?"  She didn't know what she'd do if she lost both of her siblings.

“Y-Yeah...  I just wanna see if I can find something to eat."  Holding onto the cliffside, Rin stepped out of the cave and looked around.

Gou gently pet on Haru.  He was warm... too warm.  Gently picking up his skin, she laid it over him like a blanket.  "They'll find us soon, Haru.  Then we'll find a nice cave, and they'll look out for you and- and everything will be alright."

Her stomach grumbled again.  She hadn't eaten since before she and Haru had gone out to rest on the rocks.  "Rin will find some food for us.  And then they'll come back for us.  They have to."

* * *

It took a while for Rin to get used to his legs and even then, he still wobbled every so often.  Being above water felt strange, especially out in the open air.  The wind bit at his skin and the sand got between his toes.

Looking out over the ocean, Rin forgot what he was doing for a moment, too in awe of staring at his home from the wrong side.  Would they ever be able to get back to the pod?  Or were they stuck like this now, all because he wanted to explore some dumb ship?

Rin wasn’t sure how long he stood there but the sun had dipped lower in the sky and its reflection on the water made him squint.  Turning away from his home, he set his sights back on the beach.  He had to find something to eat but all he could see was seaweed that had washed ashore.  Grabbing some, he started to wobble back to the cave.

On his way back, the tide washed over his feet and Rin gasped when the strange feeling he'd felt in his tail yesterday came back.  Looking down, he saw the rough skin of his tail reappearing where the water had hit.  Skittering further back on shore, he watched in fascination as the skin went back to normal as he feet dried.  Hurrying back to the cave, he grinned brightly at Gou.  "We can change back if we get wet!"

Gou let out a breath she hadn't even known she had been holding at that.  "Then we can go home no problem..."  She glanced down at Haru again.  "He's really warm... where's the pod...?  They should've found us by now."

Rin nodded as he sat beside her.  "I don't know...  I didn't see anyone...  M-Maybe they'll check this area later...?"  His eyes darted over the gash on Haru's foot and he winced, looking away quickly.

Gou scooted over to lean on him.  "Did you find any food....?"

"Only seaweed," Rin said, holding out the pile he had grabbed.

Gou tried to stay calm at that-  they'd be found soon, and the pod was bound to bring them plenty of juicy oysters or salty fish.  Gou could practically taste them already.  "At least we can wrap up Haru's legs more?"

"Y-Yeah..."  Turning to his brother, Rin placed the cool seaweed on his leg.  Pushing aside Haru's long hair, he draped a leaf on his warm forehead.

Haru stirred when Rin started to move around.  Everything hurt... he reached out to grab onto Rin's hand.  He just wanted to go home…

Squeezing Haru's hand gently, Rin mumbled a soft apology.  "It'll be alright soon, Haru..."

Gou sat up straight. "I'm going to go back to the rest spot and see if anyone is back yet," she said. Or she could at least.... try to find some food.

"Be careful..."  Rin gave her a tight hug as he spoke, hoping that she would be able to find something.  Letting go of her, he laid down and curled close to Haru, still holding onto his hand.

Gou hugged him close. "I'll find them, Rin."  The pod had to be somewhere nearby.  Maybe someone would be waiting at the rest spot for them.  Using her arms, inch by inch she pulled herself down the beach and back into the water.  It was such a relief to have her tail back.

She wasted no time in heading to the rest spot.

* * *

 

A large ship had docked in the mouth of the cove in the time between Rin returning to the cave and Gou's departure. 

Noticing the ship, Gou tried to make sure she stayed low in the water.  She truly hoped they hadn't driven away the pod…  But Gou was sure they wouldn’t leave without her.  They couldn’t.  Squeezing her eyes shut and ignoring the slight sting (it wasn’t tears, definitely not), she picked up her pace.  The sooner she got to the resting spot, the sooner this nightmare would be over. 

The directions were easy to remember: two turns, past the jagged rock that Rin said was “so awesome!”, and towards the pink coral.  Once there, Gou pushed past the final set of rocks to peek into the small alcove.  She could almost hear the chatterings and goings of the pod but something wasn’t right.

Nobody was there.  Gou couldn't believe it.  She swam three laps around the rocks, poked her head into every crevice, peeked behind every coral in the area.  Nothing.  Settling down by the arrow she had left, she waited, and waited, and waited... but nothing had even moved.  Not even a stray fish to get her hopes up, or at least get food.

When it was nearly sunset, she gave up and started to head back to her siblings.

Gou needed to find some more food for them, in any case.  However... the best gathering spot in the cove was closer to the shore than she would've liked.  But... surely the humans were still on the ship.

And, if Haru was going to get better in time for the pod's return, they needed food.

After swimming over to the shore, she pulled herself onto land and waited for her legs to dry.  If she could find some shells or crabs... maybe they'd be alright.

Grabbing onto a rocky outcropping, she tried to teach herself to stand and walk, as she had seen Haru do so many times.  Her legs were shaky and unsure, and she tried not to sob.  She was weak with hunger and homesick, but she  _ had _ to be strong.  Haru needed them.

* * *

 

Toraichi Matsuoka, captain of the Samezuka, was searching the beach with his first mate Souhei Shiina, wanting to make sure that they really were alone out here.  One could never be too careful when they lived a life of piracy, after all.  So far, they had found nothing and he was about to head back to the rowboat and return to his ship when the sound of a child crying drifted on the wind and over to him.

"Do you hear that?" he asked, turning to Souhei, eyes wide and worried.  What the  _ hell _ was a child doing out here?

Gou just wanted to curl up and go back to the way things had been before they went to that stupid ship.  The migration was hard, but the pod was warm and comforting.

She let out another sob at the thought that they had been  _ left behind _ .  She knew Haru had already been left behind once... but the pod wasn't supposed to!  They were supposed to be a family.

Souhei frowned, nodding as he heard the child crying as well.  "What if it's a trap?"

"Then we should go anyway!  Who would be cruel enough to use a child as bait?"  With that, Toraichi headed off in the direction of that sound.

Gou heard footsteps approaching.  She turned to look, expecting to see someone from her pod... or at least Rin.  Instead, she saw two large and unfamiliar humans headed directly for her.

Gou panicked and tried to start climbing up the rocky outcropping.  What if they were there to hurt her?

Toraichi wasn't sure what he had been expecting but he knew for damn sure that he wasn't expecting to find a terrified, naked little girl with hair almost down to her feet.  Without hesitation, he stripped off his shirt and held it out to her.  "You must be cold.  We're not going to hurt you, alright?  We just want to help."

Gou stared at the shirt for a bit.  Did they.... think she was human?  But... everything she had ever heard about humans hadn't prepared her for this.  Gou could understand their strange, guttural language- her mother had told her stories of how this magic was meant for them to protect themselves from humans, to let merpeople lie their way out of awkward situations or learn the humans’ plans to capture them.

Her tongue felt strange, when she tried to match their sounds.  "W-why...?"

Toraichi blinked, confused by her question.  "Because you look like you need help."

Gou blinked again.  They wanted to help...?  But her mother had said humans never would.  Then again, her mother said the pod would never leave them behind.

She and Haru and Rin were all alone.  Did she have any choice other than trusting these humans?  She and Rin had no idea how to treat wounds, and she knew that slapping seaweed on it would never be enough.  And neither her nor Rin were experts in foraging.  They'd starve to death before too long.

She let out another sob.  "Will you really help us?"

"Of course we will."  Still crouching and holding out the shirt, Toraichi turned to Souhei.  "Go get the food and water from the boat."

When Souhei nodded and jogged back to the rowboat, Toraichi turned back to the girl.  "What do you mean by us?  Are there more children here?"

Gou gently took the shirt and wrapped it around herself awkwardly.  It was warm.  When Toraichi spoke, she immediately nodded.

"My brothers... Haru is really hurt," she wibbled.  "I wanted to stop them, but I couldn't."

"I need you to take us to them, alright?  We have a doctor on the ship." Toraichi smiled as he spoke, trying to stay calm for the girl's sake.  It wouldn't do to panic as well.

When Souhei returned, water flask and food bundle in hand, Toraichi stood up and said, "We have food for you and your brothers and then we'll get Haru looked at once you've eaten."  There was no telling how long these kids had been stuck here, so getting some food in them before moving them seemed to be the best idea.

Gou didn't want to eat before Rin or Haru…  It didn't seem right.  She stood up shakily.

"There's a cave nearby," she said, pointing towards the cliffs.  If she got in the water... then they'd know she wasn't human.  Would that complicate things?  She didn't know.

Nodding, Toraichi walked beside her, making sure to go slowly since she seemed to be having difficulty walking.  Just how long had these poor kids been out here without food or even clothing?

The caves along the cliff were dark and the setting sun wasn't helping matters.  Toraichi pulled the small lantern from his belt, having intended to use it only as a light when rowing back to the ship.  The small flame didn't illuminate much but it showed him enough when the girl lead them into a cave.

Gou put on a brave face and led them to the cave.  She knew Rin would be upset but... they had nobody else to turn to than these humans.

There were two boys inside, both with hair as long and wild as the girl's and just as naked.  One of the boys, the one with dark hair, lay on the ground with what was definitely a broken foot.  The other, looking almost identical to the girl, jolted upright at their entrance and pressed close to the injured boy.  He wrapped his arms protectively around him as he hissed at the men.

Haru hissed in pain when Rin jerked up and pulled him close.  But his eyes widened in fear when he saw the humans.  Instinctively, Haru tried to scramble back a little, only causing himself to yelp in pain.

Gou wibbled at the sight.  "Everyone is gone, and I don’t think they’re coming back..." she pulled the shirt tighter around herself, wanting to curl up into a ball at that fact.  "But- these people have food and they want to help us."  

Rin patted at Haru gently, trying to get him to calm down but it was hard when he felt himself starting to sob again.  They'd been abandoned and were now relying on humans for help.  Still clinging to his brother, he curled up, hiding his face behind his hair.  He knew it wouldn't protect him but he found some comfort in blocking out his vision.

Toraichi felt his heart break at the sight and he gestured to Souhei to lay out the food.  "We don't have much right now but we have some hardtack," he said, pointing to the biscuits, "and salt beef."

Gou grabbed some of the food and broke off a tiny piece to taste test it for herself.  If it was poisoned, she'd be able to tell.  This was far from the first time she’d had to deal with poisonous fish; the pod had taken care to teach all of the younglings about which fish were poisonous and how their magic could alert them to the dangers of the sea.

When she deemed it safe, she grabbed the food and settled down by her brothers and offered it to them.  "I'm not leaving you,” she said softly.

Rin sniffled, peeking out through his hair to look at the food Gou offered him.  Taking the piece, he shoved it in his mouth, barely tasting it as he scarfed it down.  Once he'd eaten the small piece, he turned his attention to Haru, trying to get him to eat what the humans had called hardtack.

Once her siblings started to eat, Gou started to scarf down her share of food.  It was hard... but at least it was suitably salty.  She was so hungry, however, that the taste and texture hardly mattered.  This meager smattering of sailor's food might as well have been a feast for these kids.

Haru was hesitant to eat... but the smell was enough to break down his willpower.  Haru took a few small bites before starting to eat as fast as he could.

Once Rin had made sure that Haru was eating, he turned back to the small bit of food Gou had given him.  He practically inhaled it, ripping at the hardened food with his sharp teeth.  Every so often, he'd peek over at the humans, surprised to see that they seemed relieved that the children were eating.

Once she had finished eating, Gou glanced back over at the humans, unsure of what they were going to do with them next. She knew that this could be dangerous but... if they stayed in the cave, she knew they would die.

When the children finished eating, Souhei removed his shirt, holding it out to the girl.  "For the other redhead.  We'll carry your injured brother."

Rin tensed up, glancing between Gou and the shirt.  They were going somewhere?

Gou gently took the shirt.  "Where are we going?"

"The ship.  So the doctor can fix his leg," Toraichi said, gesturing at the injured boy's foot.

Gou nodded before taking the shirt and scampering over to Rin.  She held out the shirt to her brother.  "We gotta go... Haru needs help and there's nobody else."

Rin stared at his sister, confused.  "W-What if they come b-back...?"

"They wouldn't have stayed if a ship was around.  I waited all day and- it didn't look like anyone came back after I made the arrow."  She shook her head.  "It might be days before they come back and Haru... Haru's so warm and I'm scared."

Sniffling, Rin took the shirt from his sister, staring at the strange material in his hands.  After a moment of hesitation, he tried to put it on the way he'd seen the man wear it.  It hung loosely off his frame and felt strange against his skin.

Gou moved over to Haru and hugged him gently.  "Rin and I won't ever leave you. Not ever."

Haru gently hugged back.  He nodded a little before clinging his skin closer to himself.  If the humans realized what it was…. Well Haru didn't want to think about that.

Gou gently started to move the seaweed off of Haru's legs so the humans could pick him up.

Toraichi gave the children a reassuring smile as he moved over to the injured child.  Curious about the skin the boy clung to, he decided to ask about that later as he gently wrapped it around the boy before scooping him up.

Haru was surprised by the gentle gesture from Toraichi, and looked up at him in shock.

Gou waited until she was sure Haru was secure in Toraichi's arms before grabbing onto Rin's hand and pulled him along after the humans.

Souhei glanced around to make sure they didn't leave anything behind before grabbing the lantern and leading them back to the rowboat.

Rin let Gou drag him along, gripping her hand tightly as they wobbled after the humans.  When they caught up to them, he reached up, gripping the clothing the human carrying Haru wore on his legs.

Glancing down when he felt the tug on his pants, Toraichi gave the redheaded boy a reassuring smile.  "Don't worry, your brother will be fine."

Gou clung tightly to her brother.  She didn't understand why these humans were helping them but... they fed them and they even let Haru keep his skin.  If these humans turned out to be bad... at least they lived on a ship, so she and her brothers could just jump back into the ocean and look for another pod if they had to.

The walk along the beach was short before they stopped in front of a small, wooden thing resembling a miniature ship.  It seemed to belong to the men, because the one holding Haru climbed into it with ease.

Rin squirmed a bit when the other human carefully lifted him up into the small ship.

"Don't worry, kid, it's just a boat.  You... do know what those are, right?" Souhei asked, wondering why the children seemed so  _ confused _ by things like boats and clothing.

Haru just curled up further into his skin.  Everything hurt but... the big human was warm.

Gou wasn't sure why there were tiny ships called boats but... She nodded. "Y-yeah. We do."  They had to pretend to be human.

Rin nodded as well, scooting closer to the human that held Haru.

Sighing, Souhei sat down, hooking the lantern to a pole at the front of the boat.  Grabbing his arms, he looked at the girl.  "Not very talkative, is he?" he asked, gesturing to her brother.

Gou shrugged a little. "We're not supposed to talk to strangers..."

"Well, I suppose that makes sense...  What are your names, anyway?  I'm Souhei Shiina and the captain's name is Toraichi Matsuoka."

Gou fidgeted nervously.  But... she had already told them Haru's name.  "I'm Gou."

Toraichi smiled.  "Nice to meet you, Gou.  I assume this is Haru," he said, nodding at the boy in his arms.  "And who is this?" he asked, smiling at the boy sitting beside him.

Fidgeting a bit, Rin mumbled his name before hiding behind his hair again.

Gou scooted closer to Rin.  These humans must really have thought they're abandoned human children, she decided.

"It'll be alright, Rin.  I promise," Toraichi said, trying to reassure him.

Rin nodded weakly before scooting closer to his sister.

Gou was so tired and so heartbroken she wanted to cry.  Haru was hurt, their pod was  _ gone _ and they were stuck with a group of humans.  Had they done something wrong?  They had just wanted to play.

Fat tears started to roll down her cheeks.  How could it be alright?

Pulling his sister into a hug, Rin sniffled softly, trying not to start crying again.  "D-Don't cry, Gou," he whispered, holding her tightly.

Gou clung tightly to her older brother and sobbed into his chest.

Souhei shot Toraichi a worried glance before rowing faster, trying to get to the ship quickly.

Haru shivered in his makeshift blanket, curling up even more.

When they pulled up next to the ship, Toraichi yelled up to his men to throw down the ropes to secure the boat.  They'd have to let the crew hoist them up inside the boat, because he knew he wouldn't be able to climb up a rope ladder while carrying Haru.

As they approached the ship, Gou had gotten enough time for her sobs to die down.  She jumped a little when Toraichi yelled, and looked puzzled when a bunch of ropes fell down.  What were the humans doing...?

Souhei moved quickly, fastening the ropes to the iron loops on the side on the boat.  Once they were secured, he called back up to the crew before sitting down.  "Don't worry, the crew's just gonna lift us up."

Gou clung tighter to Rin.  "Isn't the -...boat heavy?"

"Yes, but the crew it strong," Souhei said, grinning at her.

"What if they drop it?"

"They won't."

Gou frowned up at the ropes.  Were humans really that strong...?  How many humans were on this ship?

When the boat finally lifted up, Rin yelped softly, clinging to his sister tightly.

Gou yelped when Rin did.  The upward movement of the boat was loud and shaky.  Gou had never even been on anything that wasn't water, sand, or rock.

Haru winced a little at the sudden movement.

Hugging his sister close, Rin looked up at the ship, wondering if this was really going to work.

Gou smushed close to Rin and squeezed her eyes shut.  This wasn't going to work.  The boat was so big and full of people.  They weren't even in water!

Despite their fears, the boat  _ did _ make it to the top of the ship, where a bunch of men grabbed it and secured it.

"Captain, what the hell have you got there?  A ship is no place for little ones," someone said.

Rin shrunk down further, not wanting to be stared at.  He tensed up when he and Gou were grabbed, only relaxing slightly when he realized it was Souhei.

Gou tried to duck behind Rin when the crew started to stare at them.  Had she made a big mistake?  Were they going to kick them out?

"These kids need our help, so we're going to help them," Toraichi said, stepping onto the ship.  "Someone get the doctor and bring him to my cabin."  With that, he led Souhei to his cabin.

Gou didn't let go of Rin as they followed Souhei to the captain’s cabin.  When they stepped inside, Gou sank to the floor to sit down. She was utterly exhausted and her legs  _ ached _ .

Rin scooted close to his sister as soon as she sat down.

Toraichi carefully laid Haru down on his bed before turning to Souhei.  "Bring me a bucket of water and any extra clothes.  I wanna clean them up a bit after Goro checks them out."

"Sure thing.  I'll bring them some extra food too," Souhei said before leaving the cabin.

Gou laid her head on Rin's shoulder.  Everything was so new and she just felt  _ numb _ .  Too much had happened.  Everything was too unfamiliar.  It almost felt unreal.

Haru curled up on the bed, trying to burrow into the blankets.

Toraichi sighed softly, looking at the terrified kids huddled on the floor.  "I promise it'll be alright...  The doctor is going to make sure you're healthy and fix Haru's foot.  Then you can eat some more or go to bed."

Gou stared up at him.  "Why did they leave us behind...?"

"I... I don't know, Gou.  I really don't.  How long were you kids out there...?"

Gou shrugged a little. "A few moons..."

"You don't tell time by the sun?"

Gou blinked a little.  "The moon came up a few times."  Sometimes, it was hard to tell when they were in the deep ocean, but when things were light, usually they told time by the color of light or the lack thereof.

"Alright, so a few days..."  Well, that threw out his plan of going to the nearest town to see if anyone had lost their kids.  "We'll figure something out but first we have to make sure Haru gets better."

"You can't find our family," Gou looked down on the floor.  "They run far away when ships come."

Well, their circumstances were getting stranger and stranger.   Toraichi was about to say something else when there was a knock on his door.  "Come in!"

Gou jumped a little when the knock came, glancing over at the door in confusion.

Souhei came inside, holding a small bucket of water and food, with some spare clothes draped over his arm.  "Goro's on his way."

"Who is Goro?" Gou asked.

"The doctor.  He's the one who'll fix Haru's leg," Souhei said, giving the kids a smile.  He set the bucket down by Toraichi, as well as the clothing, before setting the food in front of the kids.

Gou perked up as soon as she saw the food being set in front of them.  Not too long after starting to stuff her face with food, she spoke, "How?"

Rin joined his sister in eating, stomach growling as soon as he saw it.  At Gou's question, he looked up as well.

"Well, he'll clean Haru's leg and set the bone.  Then it'll have to heal on its own," Toraichi said, crouching down to go through the clothes, trying to figure out what he could repurpose into children's clothing.

Gou blinked.  She didn't really understand but... Toraichi seemed like he knew what he was talking about.  She nudged Rin a little before shakily getting up to sit by Haru.

Haru was curled up under a pile of blankets and his skin.

Rin glanced at his sister when she nudged him, a piece of beef halfway in his mouth.  Getting up, he followed his sister to the bed, sharp teeth pulling the food into his mouth quickly.  He crawled onto the bed and curled up by Haru's side.

Gou gently laid down on the other side of Haru.  "This is so soft..." she mumbled, petting at the bed.  Haru soaked up the new warmth from his siblings' presence.

Toraichi watched the kids with a small smile before getting up when there was another knock on the door.  Upon opening it, he was greeted by Goro with his medical bag in hand.

Giving Toraichi a friendly smile, Goro patted his friend on the shoulder. "What's going on, Tora?" He glanced around the room before noticing the two children and lump on the bed.  "Where did these three come from?"

"Dunno.  Found them hiding in a cave on shore, naked and hungry.  Gou, the girl, says they were left there..."  Sighing, Toraichi shook his head as he walked over to the bed.  Carefully, he pulled the blankets off of Haru's feet.  "I figured you should deal with this first before anything else.  Boy's got a fever as well."

It was hard for Goro not to wince when he saw the boy's legs.  They were nasty cuts, and hadn't received much, if any, care.  And the broken foot... This child must be in a lot of pain.

He could tell that the other two children were watching him suspiciously when he approached, so he tried to give them a warm smile. "I'm going to help your friend feel better."

Once he had spoken, he then turned to Toraichi.  "Tora, help me move him so we can clean off those cuts.  Then I'll set his foot."

Being as gentle as he could, Toraichi tried to lift Haru up but felt some resistance on the blankets.  He glanced to the side to find Rin clutching at the blankets, eyes wide and terrified.

"Rin, it's alright.  We're going to lay Haru on the table so Goro can fix his leg.  I promise that's all that'll happen," he said gently, waiting until the boy's grip loosened.  Standing up, he carried Haru to the small table on the other side of his cabin, smiling when he felt Rin get up and cling to his pants.  He laid Haru down and adjusted the blankets to keep him as covered as possible while still leaving his legs bare.

Once that was done, he reached down to ruffle Rin's messy hair.  "You and Gou can hold his hand if you want."

Gou was right behind Rin and clinging to his shirt as he followed Toraichi and Haru over to the table.  She nodded a little at Toraichi's suggestion, letting go of Rin's shirt to grab onto Haru's hand.

Haru weakly squeezed at Gou's hand.  He was scared... but he was even more scared of leaving his only family behind.  He tried not to look at the big humans.

Rin hesitated for a moment before going over to Gou and clinging to Haru's hand as well.  He reached up to brush Haru's hair out of his eyes and pat his cheek softly in an awkward attempt at comfort.

Goro felt his heart hurt.  These kids were so scared...  "This is going to sting... But I'm using this water to wash out the cuts so that they don't get you sick, alright?"  He picked up a cloth and started to wet it in the bucket.

Toraichi watched them for a moment before going through Goro's bag, pulling out clean bandages and pieces of cloth to wrap Haru's wounds with once Goro was finished.  He just hoped they'd found the children in time and that Haru wouldn't lose the foot…

Goro apologized gently before starting to clean off Haru's legs.  It stung, and Haru hissed uncomfortably before progressively squirming more and starting to whimper. There was a lot of salt in his wounds, as well as other materials from the sea water, sand, and seaweed.  Goro hated watching the kid cry as he cleaned his legs, but he knew infection would be much worse.

Once he was done cleaning he set the rag down.  "Your legs will feel better after this.  Next, I'm going to have to set your foot.  This will hurt, but I'm doing it so your foot will heal properly."

Haru nodded weakly. He was tired and wanted to stop hurting.

Once Goro brought up setting Haru's foot, Toraichi moved closer to the table and carefully held Haru's legs in place.  "It's so you don't kick.  I'll let go as soon as he's finished," he explained, wanting to make sure the kids knew what he was doing and why.

Gou squeezed Haru's hand tighter.  If they hurt Haru... it would be all her fault.  She had to make sure he was fine!

Haru wibbled a little.

Goro gave the kids a soft look.  "After this, Tora and I will bandage up his legs, and will let him go back to bed.  It will be fine," he said as he ruffled Gou's hair gently before moving back to Haru's legs.

He gently gave Haru a warning before he popped the bones back in place.  Haru let out a loud yell and squeezed his siblings’ hands tightly as he started to cry once more.

"There.  The hard parts are done.  Tora, let's do this quickly so he can rest," Goro said, taking some of the bandages and quickly wrapping them up with his practiced hands.

Rin let out a soft sob when Haru yelled and he pressed closer to his brother, petting his hair with shaky hands.  With tear filled eyes, he watched as Toraichi cleaned off the rest of the sand from Haru's legs while Goro wrapped strips of cloth around Haru's injuries.

Once Goro finished bandaging Haru's legs, he gave Toraichi a nod.  He then bent down to look at Rin and Gou.  "I'd like to take a look at each of you, to make sure you're not sick or hurt like your friend is.  Is that alright?"

Gou fidgeted nervously and looked at Toraichi.  Did she have to?

Toraichi moved the blankets to cover Haru up again before looking at the other two kids.  "I just want to make sure you're not sick.  You were out there for awhile and I have clean clothes for you two as well."

Gou looked at her brother.  "Rin... should we?" she asked, biting her lip.  What if they found out she and her siblings weren't human?

Rin shrugged weakly.  "W-What if we did get sick...?"  They'd never gone without food before, so he had no idea how that would affect them.

Gou nodded a little, before looking up at Goro.  "A-Alright."

Goro smiled at the kids.  "It's not going to hurt, it's just a little checkup.  I'm going to sit you up on the table and have a look, alright?"

Trying to be brave, Rin climbed onto the table first.  He was the older brother, so he had to show Gou that everything would be fine!

Gou was surprised when Rin suddenly climbed up onto the table.  He was so brave!  Gou smiled a little at him.  If he could do it, then she could....

She clambered up onto the table a little awkwardly so she could sit next to her big brother.

Goro smiled at the kids.  He gently felt their foreheads for a temperature before then checking their pulses.  They were a little colder than he had expected, but otherwise seemed normal.  "I'd like to check your weight, to see if not eating has hurt you.  Is it alright if I take off your shirts?"

Gou blinked a little, and looked at Rin.

Rin held still as Goro checked their foreheads and necks, wondering what he was doing.  At the doctor's question, he nodded, not understanding why it would be an issue.  It's not like they wore shirts normally.  He wriggled out of it, getting momentarily stuck on the arms, before setting it aside.

Gou immediately copied her brother once he was done.

Goro was a little surprised by the lack of hesitation, but that wasn't the point.  When he went to check on Rin's ribs and chest, the long, thin markings along his sides immediately caught his attention.  He reached out to run his finger along them.  Slits?

Noticing Goro’s pause, Gou sucked in a breath.  They had been caught, hadn't they?  Humans didn't have gills.  She knew that much, at least.

The touch sent a ticklish shiver up Rin's spine and he giggled, oblivious to the surprise on Goro's face and the look of worry on his sister's.

Toraichi leaned in closer when he noticed the doctor's surprise.  Before he could ask what was wrong, his eyes fell on what looked to be slits in the boy's skin.  A quick glance at Gou confirmed that she had the same strange slits on her sides as well.  They didn't seem to be markings or scars; rather, they seemed to be a natural part of the children's bodies.

"Holy shit," he muttered, more to himself than anyone else.

Gou quickly tried to cover her sides with her hands, but that led Goro to notice another feature - webbing extended between her fingers from the base to the first joint of her fingers.  When she was in the water, however, the webbing extended even farther.

"Can I see your hands?"  He gently asked Rin.

Confused by the reaction of the adults, Rin simply held his hands out to Goro.  "A-Are we sick...?"

Goro shook his head.  "You both seem fine.  A little skinny, perhaps.  But nothing that a good bunch of meals and some exercise can't fix," he said, smiling at the kids as he gently looked at Rin's hands.

These kids might not be normal physiologically, but he could tell they acted just like any other kids.  And that was enough for him.

"You can put the shirts back on and go nap with your friend.  You kids have earned it."  He ruffled their hair before turning to Toraichi and nodding towards the door.

Rin relaxed at the confirmation that they were alright.  He gave Gou a smile.  "See?  We're fine!"

Toraichi nodded at Goro.  He gave the kids some clean shirts before following Goro to the door.  "I'll be back later.  Get some rest."

Gou relaxed a little and started to pull on the new shirt.  She waited until the door was shut before she hopped down and went to listen at the door.

Yawning, Rin simply pulled on the shirt before going back to the bed to curl up by Haru.

Goro nodded at Toraichi once the door was shut.  "Tora... where on earth did you find these kids? I could swear they have gills."  He scratched the back of his head.  "They might've gotten kicked out for being different, or they ain't human and got real lost.  Either way, they need our help."

Glancing out across the cove, Toraichi pointed in the direction of the cave.  "They were holed up in a cave, totally naked and hungry.  Gou said they'd been left before and...  Shit, you think they could be...?"

Goro nodded.  "Yeah... I don't know much about gills or sea critters, so I don't know if I can always help with these kids.  But... They don't got nobody left."  He exhaled a little.  Alone and sick at so young...  It felt wrong.

"They'll just have to stay with us, then.  Guess those stories our grandmothers told us were true, huh?"  Toraichi chuckled softly.  "At least it was our ship that found them.  Since we're all from the same area, we've all heard the stories.  Hell, since they seem to be true, I guess Iwatobi owes it to merpeople for still being around, huh?"

Goro nodded.  "You should talk to those kids.  They seem real scared around us, and it's probably because we're human."  He leaned back against a wall.  "Who knew we'd be paying back an age old debt and helping out some merkids?  Kyou would be proud, Tora."

"Yeah, I'm worried about them...  I wanna make sure they're alright.  Maybe the next time we're near home, I'll take them to meet my mother.  She was a kid when things happened, so I'm sure she'd love to see merfolk again."

Goro smiled at that and nudged Toraichi.  "She always bugged you about grandkids too."

"You really think I'm old enough to be a father?" Toraichi asked, laughing softly.

Goro laughed. "I think you're old enough to be a grandpa."

"Oi, you better watch it," Toraichi threatened, though his tone was still light and joking.

"And where are you gonna find a better doctor, hm?" Goro teased right back.

"You should be glad that's the only reason we keep you around.”

Goro rolled his eyes. "You'd be lost without me, Tora."

Toraichi laughed at that.  "You're probably right."

Goro patted his friend on the shoulder. "I should get rest.  Let me know if anything comes up with these kids.  Rest up, Tora."

Gou took the opportunity to scamper back to the bed to snuggle up with her brothers. "They know about us..."

Rin glanced at his sister, eyes widening.  "A-Are we in trouble...?"

Gou shook her head.  "They feel bad for us... They wanna help cause merfolk helped them..."

"So... We're safe?"

Gou shrugged a little.  "I think so?"  This was so different than anything she'd ever heard about humans.  But... if the humans were going to hurt them, wouldn't they have already?

"Oh...  Good...  Because they have food," Rin said, smiling a tiny bit before snuggling down into the soft blankets.

Gou snuggled into the blankets with her siblings.  The bed felt so soft and warm... It didn't take her long to fall asleep.  Poor exhausted kid.

Rin cuddled up close to them, feeling comfortable and warm for the first time since they'd gone into that ship.

Haru never felt safer than when he was snuggled between his two siblings

After bidding Goro and some of the crew goodnight, Toraichi turned and went back into his cabin.  Seeing that the kids were asleep, he quietly made his way over to the chair at his desk to get some sleep as well.

* * *

 

Gou had never been more tired in her life.  The past set of days were exhausting to say the least, and she slept until the afternoon, waking when her stomach started to grumble.  After stretching her arms out, she rubbed her eyes.

Rin was still asleep when Gou woke, whining softly as she shifted the bed.  Scrunching his eyes closed, he simply burrowed under the blankets and went back to sleep.

Haru stirred a little but decided to stay under the blankets as well.  After wiggling a little before getting up, Gou began to look around the room a little.

The room was empty but there was food set out on the table for the kids.

Gou carefully walked over to the table to properly inspect the food.  After inspecting some of the strange human things like hardtack and salted meat, she grabbed some fish and brought it back over to her brothers.

The smell of food finally pulled Rin from his sleep and he peeked out of the blankets to watch Gou.  "There's fish...?" 

Gou nodded.  "It's funny though..." she sniffed at the cooked fish.

At the word fish, Haru immediately sat up.

Rin poked at it, frowning slightly.  "It's not raw...?"

Gou shook her head.  "I don't understand."

Haru, on the other hand, snatched the fish and started to scarf it down.

"Is it good?" Rin asked, staring wide eyed at his brother.

Mouth full of fish, Haru simply nodded in response.  He leaned over to spit the bones on the floor nearby.

Deciding to try for himself, Rin grabbed some of the fish from his sister and shoved it in his mouth.

Gou took the last fish for herself and began scarfing it down and following Haru in spitting the bones on the floor.

Pulling the meat off the bones with his teeth, Rin swallowed before spitting the bones onto the floor.  He wasn't sure where else to put them, since they never had to worry about that problem while in the sea.

Gou gave her siblings a toothy grin.  "It's good!"

Haru nodded, mid-bite.

"It tastes different... but I like it!"  Rin grinned as well, licking his fingers.

Gou nodded before getting up and bringing more of the human food over for the others to examine.  "Human food is weird..."

Poking at some of the food, Rin frowned, trying to figure out what the strange, small white things were.  They stuck together when he picked up a handful and had no strong flavor when he shoved it in his mouth.  He pouted at that and turned to the rest of the food.  "There's no more fish..."

Gou nibbled at some of the salted meat.  "It's some of the salty meat stuff they gave us..."

Rin grabbed a few pieces, handing some to Haru as well.  "I like this stuff."

Gou nodded.  "It's yummy."

Haru scarfed down his piece quickly.

Rin busied himself with eating, enjoying the meat more than anything else.

After eating his fill, Haru went right back to sleep.  He was recovering from all his injuries, so being up and alert was quite a bit of work.

Gou fidgeted nervously and glanced at Rin.  "What are we going to do when Haru is better?"

Patting his brother gently, Rin shrugged at Gou's question.  "I don't know..."

She played with the edge of the blanket.  "Should we stay with these humans...?  Or go back to the ocean?  Would we be alright if we did that?"

"I... I don't know what to do... if we went back...  W-We don't know where everyone went... and we're really little..."  Rin bit his lip, fingers nervously picking at the blanket.

Gou wibbled.  "I don't understand why they left," she said, feeling a heaviness in her chest at the memory of their mother.

Rin pulled his sister into a hug, patting her back gently.  "I don't know..."

Gou let out a little sob.  "I miss mama," she said.  She missed curling up next to their mother, and holding hands with her while they slept, and gently letting their mother brush and detangle her hair.

"M-Me too..." Rin mumbled, sniffling softly and trying to fight back tears.

Gou sobbed into Rin's chest.  She didn't understand why their mom hadn't been there at the rest site.  Did something happen to the pod?  How could they be so alone?  It was all so overwhelming.

Not knowing what else to do, Rin simply wrapped a blanket around them, hiding them underneath the soft material.

Gou curled close to her brother, and sobbed until she couldn't anymore.  Her face  _ ached _ in ways it hadn't before, and she was really thirsty.  But moving seemed like so much work, so she just curled close to Rin and sniffled miserably.

Rin just held her close until her tears slowly subsided, occasionally patting her back or stroking her hair.  Pulling back slightly, he patted at her face.  "Do... Do you need anything...?"

Gou's voice was hoarse and weak.  "M'thirsty," she mumbled softly.

Nodding, Rin wiggled out of the blankets and got up.  He went over to the table, trying to see if there was anything to drink.

Gou curled closer to Haru for warmth.  At the touch, Haru stirred a little and gave Gou some gentle head pats before glancing at Rin.

Drinking had never been a problem in the sea, since they got water from food, but this human food was dry and strange.  Rin frowned a bit, clambering up onto the table to look around better.

"What are you looking for?" Haru asked quietly.

"Gou's thirsty," Rin said, crawling around on the table and poking at the food.

Haru pointed to the cups.  "Those tall things.  Humans use those."

Rin crawled over to them, looking inside.

There was some kind of liquid in them so Rin grabbed a cup and slid off the table to carry it over to Gou.

Gou blinked when Rin handed her the cup.  She took a sip of the warm yellowish-greenish liquid before making a funny face.  "It's weird and bitter..." but she was so thirsty.  She downed the cup as fast as she could to avoid tasting it too much.

"Well, it's human stuff, so of course it's weird," Rin said, smiling softly.

Haru shifted a little.  "Can I have some?"

Nodding, Rin ran back to the table, grabbing the other two cups for himself and Haru.

Haru gently took the cup before starting to drink all of it down.  The fevers had left him parched.  Once done, he made a face.  "Water is better," he gave a decisive nod.

Rin sipped at it, making a face at the taste.  He supposed it would have to do, however.

Haru gently patted at his seal skin.  "Are we going to stay here...?"

"Yeah...  I don't know what else we'd do...  Mama always said little ones get eaten if we wander off...," Rin mumbled.

Haru looked down.  "I'm sorry. It's my fault."

"No, it's my fault!  I wanted to go in the ship!"

Haru shook his head.  He had been abandoned again.  He just.... hadn't wanted this for Rin or Gou.  "I held back the pod.  I was too slow, and I needed air."  They wanted to leave him behind.  Haru was sure of it.

Rin frowned at Haru’s words.  "So what?!  We wouldn't have left you behind!  You're our brother!"

Haru looked away at that.  He wouldn't cry about this.  Not again.  He had promised himself that it was alright.  "I'm still sorry..."

Rin huffed and threw an arm around Haru's shoulders.  "If you weren't hurt, I'd fight you," he muttered.

Gou cuddled up closer to Haru.  "We're never gonna leave you behind, right Rin?"

"Right!  We're a family!" 

Haru hid his face under his seal skin to hide the tears.  He wasn't crying!  Really!

"Silly," Rin said, nudging him gently.

Haru huffed at Rin while Gou simply smiled at that.  Her big brothers were always so silly.

Rin simply stuck his tongue out in response to Haru's huff before wiggling off the bed.

Gou wiggled off to follow Rin.  "Where are you going?"

"I wanna explore!"  He'd slept more than enough today and he hadn't seen much of the ship last night.

Gou wiggled a little before puffing up tall.  "I wanna go too!" 

Rin giggled a bit before heading over to the door which ended up becoming an unexpected obstacle when he realized he didn't know how to open it.

Gou tried to push at the door, like Haru had done in the wreck, but nothing happened.  She frowned at that.

Frowning as well, Rin looked around, trying to figure out how to open the door.

Looking around a little first, Gou then got down onto the floor to look at the bottom of the door.  Maybe there was something there?

Right by Rin's head was a round object protruding from the door.  He grabbed at it curiously, first trying to pull it before turning it.

Turning it seemed to do the trick, because the door swung open, dragging Rin along with it as he clutched onto the knob tightly.

Gou sat up at that and gasped as Rin swung out into the open, along with the door.

A few sailors turned their heads at the sudden opening of their captain's cabin door and Gou quickly ran to hide behind one of the walls to avoid their sight.

Rin put his feet down on the deck, eyes wide as he realized he was being stared at.  Part of him wanted to hide like Gou had but he was her older brother!  He had to be brave for her!  Letting go of the door, he puffed out his chest as he looked at the crew.  "I wanna explore!"

Gou peeked out a little once Rin made his declaration.

The pirates laughed at that.  The captain had found an interesting set of kids.  Souhei beckoned them over.  "I'll give you a tour of the ship."

Rin looked over at Souhei when he heard the man's familiar voice.  Grinning brightly, he turned to grab his sister's hand before running over to the man.

When the two kids reached him, Souhei bent down to get closer to their level.  "Right now, we're on the deck of the ship."

Rin looked around after Souhei's explanation.  "There's a lot of humans up here," he said, eyes wide with amazement.  "It's like a pod..."

Souhei nodded.  "We think of crew like a family... We all live on this ship, and we work together to keep it running.  Every person you see here has a job to do.  Some make sure the ropes are tied, others make sure the sails are ready," he said as he pointed up, towards the large sails keeping the boat moving. "And our Captain takes charge when we need him to."

Rin looked up at the sails, his mouth falling open in a silent "oh" when he realized how high up they went.

Gou let out a soft gasp.  They were so big!!

Souhei laughed at that. "At the very top, there's a man up there keeping watch."

"There's a person up there?!  W-What if he falls?" Rin asked, eyes widening with fear.

"It has happened on some ships... and it's not pretty.  But we train him to be careful, and he has a rope to catch himself if he slips." Souhei tried to reach out and pat the kids.  It wasn’t like he had meant to scare them.

Rin pulled his lower lip into his mouth, chewing on it in worry.  He didn't very much like the sound of climbing way up high.

Souhei patted Rin's head gently.  "We don't make people go up there if they don't want to.  And we only send our best climbers to the top."

Nodding, Rin turned away from the sails, looking around the deck instead.  "How come there's no other kids...?"

Souhei ruffled Rin's hair at that.  "Humans usually live on land, and the sea can be dangerous, so we keep our kids at home.  Storms can sink ships... and sometimes we get into battles that can kill people."  He shook his head at the thought.  "It's not an easy life on the sea, but we'll do our best for you three."

"Oh..."  Rin nodded a bit as he processed the information.  So the ship was kind of like a pod, but also different.  Well, he supposed things would be different, since the crew was made up of humans after all.

Souhei smiled at them.  "I have two kids of my own back home.  I'll introduce them to you when we make port there."

"Really?  Isn't being... away from them sad?" Rin asked.

Souhei nodded a little.  "I miss them sometimes...  But I've always known a life on the sea and I'm earning money to keep them fed and clothed."

"Oh..."  Rin glanced at Gou, biting his lip.  He couldn't imagine being away from his entire family; he was so glad that at least Gou and Haru were still with him.

Souhei reached out to ruffle Rin's hair.  "I’ll see them soon, little one.  You look to be about little Asahi's age by now."

At that, Rin perked up a little bit.  Other kids his age!  He wondered what human kids were like.  "Yeah!"  Grinning, Rin grabbed his sister's hand, pulling her along after Souhei as he gave them a tour.

* * *

As time passed, Haru's wounds started to heal.  The bandages came off his legs, and before long he was able to put weight on his foot.  He couldn't always walk for long, but eventually, he was strong enough to go out on deck for the first time.

Haru leaned on Toraichi for support as he peeked out of the captain's cabin to really get a good look at the ship for the first time.  He gasped a little, glancing owlishly at all the humans on the deck. There were so many of them!  More than he’d seen in a long time.

Spotting Haru coming out of the cabin, Rin ran over to him, ducking around sailors to get over to his brother.  "Haru!!"

Gou trailed after Rin, dodging and ducking to catch up to her two older brothers.  As they reached Haru, she gently tugged on Rin's shirt to keep him from tackling the other boy.

Rin pouted a bit as Gou yanked him back before they both turned to grin at Haru.  Gou spoke first, "Haru!"

Haru gave his siblings a shy smile.  Feeling a little like all eyes on the ship were focused on him, he looked down at the deck.  He had half a mind to run back and hide under his seal skin.

"So you're all better?" Rin asked.

Patting Haru on the shoulder, Toraichi gave the kids a smile.  "Yes, he's better now.  He'll still have to be careful but walking around will help him get his strength back."

Gou wiggled a little with excitement.  Haru was going to be fine!

After the pats, Haru quickly let go of Toraichi to get closer to his siblings.  It had been pretty lonely all cooped up in the cabin, and he wanted to play a little.  But it felt weird saying that, so Haru just shrugged a little.

While shifting from one foot to another in a little dance, Gou also tugged on Rin's arm.  "Let's play!"

"Yeah!  Haru, you should play with us!  You can pick, because you're the one who was stuck inside!"  Grinning, Rin reached out to grab Haru’s hand.

Haru couldn't run much, so there weren't too many options.  "Hide and seek?"  He fidgeted a little.

Gou grinned.  "We can show you the best hiding spots!"

"Who should be it?" Rin asked.

Haru shrugged a little.

"Haru doesn't know his way around, so one of us can hide with him!" said Gou.

Rin nodded.  "I'll hide with him first!  Then we can switch!"

Gou giggled softly and held her hands up to cover her eyes. "I'll count extra time for you!"

Haru hesitated a little before leaning on Rin.

Waiting until Gou's eyes were closed, Rin helped Haru walk away from her to try to find a hiding spot.

Haru hated having to lean on Rin or Toraichi to walk around... but it was much better than being stuck all alone in bed.  The nice thing about hide and seek was that the rest of the crew seemed used to having Rin and Gou run underfoot, so they paid the kids little mind.

Gou counted extra slow to give the boys enough time to hide.

Being as quiet as he could, Rin snuck them into the galley.  "Shhh, if we're quiet enough, we can probably sneak some food!"

At the thought of possibly snagging some extra fish, Haru perked up.  He took care to move extra quietly before poking around to see what food they could sneak.

Rin joined him, licking his lips as he smelled some of the salted beef.  Snagging a piece, he quickly shoved it in his mouth.

Haru, sadly, was unable to find fresh cooked fish.  But he made do with some of the salted beef.  He sat next to Rin and leaned on his brother.  "Is it nice here?" he asked in a whisper.

"Mhm!  They're like... a weird pod.  But they're been really nice to me and Gou!"  Leaning back on his brother, Rin smiled.  "I still miss the pod but...  I think this is good."

Haru nodded weakly.  He had really only felt home when Rin and Gou were around.  "They'll let us stay...?"

"Yeah.  I guess they're from some human place that likes merpeople I guess?"

Haru shrugged a little. "Why...?"

"I dunno.  Something about us helping them before?"

"We didn't do anything.... and we're just kids."

"Who knows...  Humans are weird."  With that, Rin shoved the piece of salted beef into his mouth.

Gou peeked around the corner.  "Found you!!"  This was FAR from the first time Rin had hid in the galley.  Sticking one hand on her hip in a proud little pose, Gou held her other hand out to Rin for some snacks as a reward.

Rin jumped at his sister's voice before pouting.  "Fine, fine."  Getting up, he grabbed some salted meat and handed it to Gou.

Gou giggled and started to scarf down the food.

Trying not to laugh, Haru simply smiled a little at this.  He had missed playing with them.

"When you're stronger, we should go swimming!  I've been waiting for you to get better before doing it!" Rin said, grinning around another piece of beef he had snagged.

Haru nodded.  It felt strange, being dry all the time and having to drink water.  Without the soft protection of blubber, it got much colder, even though Haru did have his skin as a protective blanket. Also, for the first few days of being bedridden, Haru had woken up in the middle of the night, expecting to have drifted out of the bed and away from the other kids, only to find that he hadn't moved.

But, at least, the ship gently lulled along with the push and pull of the ocean.  And Haru could still smell the sea, even tucked away in Toraichi's cabin.

At times, he would ask to be moved to the seat by the window, so he could press his face up against it to stare out at the sea.  Though at other moments, the sun would seem too bright, even with him hidden away in the protection of the cabin.

He wasn't sure he liked this life.  But he wasn't sure he disliked it either.  The food was easy to get, and he didn't feel like he was always falling behind.  Plus, Rin and Gou were still around…

Satisfied with Haru's answer, Rin smiled brightly.  "I can't wait to swim again!  We could try to catch some fish too!"

Haru perked up even more at that.

"We can even bring more for the crew so they can make us all more fish," Gou said, earning an eager nod from Haru.

"Yeah!  I bet we're much better at catching fish than silly humans are!" Rin said.

Haru scoffed.  As if there was any doubt.  The fish the humans had fed them so far were  _ fine _ .  But the humans took SO LONG to gather such puny fish....

Rin snickered a bit at the noise Haru made.  Fish were not a joking matter to his brother.

Gou jumped a little when she heard movement nearby.  "We should go..."  She held out a hand to help Haru stand up, so the three of them could scurry off before the cook caught them sneaking some of the salted meat.

Hopping to his feet as well, Rin made sure to stay quiet as he followed his siblings out of the kitchen.

* * *

 

Days passed by like this, with the children running about the ship and playing games as Haru's strength returned to him.  But before they could get a chance to swim again, Toraichi approached them.

"We'll be stopping in a small town to get more supplies and actual clothes for you three.  You can have a proper bath as well,” he explained.

Gou wiggled with excitement, and unleashed a barrage of questions at poor Toraichi.  A human town?  How did humans usually live if they weren't on ships?  Which towns were small?  Were there bigger ones?  Were people nice there?  What's a proper bath?

For his part, Haru seemed utterly uninterested in the human town.  He huffed a little and looked away.  He didn't like the sound of more humans.

Toraichi tried to keep up with Gou's questions but eventually gave up and simply laughed.  "Well, I suppose you'll just have to see when we get there.  But a proper bath is kind of like swimming, I suppose, but you get clean instead."

"Clean?" Rin asked, confused.  Toraichi had shown them how to clean themselves with rags and water so he didn't understand how swimming was somehow supposed to help with that.

Haru turned to look back at Toraichi when he mentioned swimming.

Gou tilted her head.  "I don't understand."

"Well, it's like a very small pool of water that you sit in," Toraichi said, hoping that would explain it better.

Gou blinked.  "Why not have a big pool?"

"Big pools would be too hard to fit into a house."

"What's a house like?"

"It has lots of rooms in it, like the cabins," Toraichi said, hoping his explanation made some sense.

Gou tried to picture a bunch of cabins.  How would you get a puddle of water in it?  Humans were weird…

Haru huffed.  "I want to swim."

"When we get to port, we'll move the ship further out in the bay.  That'll give you kids some privacy to swim near the ship without being seen."

Haru perked up at that, while Gou absolutely beamed.  It had been so long since she had swam with her brothers.  While the ship was starting to feel like a new home... she still missed the ocean desperately.

At the news, Rin wiggled with excitement, hopping up and down.  "I wanna swim, I wanna swim!!"

Toraichi laughed as he ruffled Rin's hair.  "Soon, alright?  We'll be there within the day."

Gou pouted a little at that.  A whole day?

Haru looked more excited than Toraichi had probably ever seen him.

"I'm sorry we can't go faster," he said, seeing the disappointed look on Gou's face.

Gou looked shy at that and ducked behind Rin.

Snickering a bit, Rin let Gou hide behind him.  The prospect of seeing a human town was fascinating, even if he still thought humans were really weird.

Gou peeked out a little behind Rin to look up at Toraichi, which earned her a warm smile from him.  Giving him a shy smile, she ducked behind Rin once more.

Haru looked down at the ground, fidgeting a little.  Rin glanced at Haru and immediately reached over to poke him.  In response, Haru gave Rin an annoyed look before elbowing him gently.

With years of experience dealing with their antics, Gou immediately took a few steps back.

Huffing a bit, Rin poked him again, wanting to know why his brother was being fidgety.  Alas, Rin’s efforts were in vain; Haru's tight-lipped demeanor was not easily breached, so he just elbowed Rin again.

Gou simply rolled her eyes at them.

Before things could get any further, Toraichi put a hand on both of their heads.  "Alright you two, why don't you run around to burn off some of that energy?"

Haru gave Rin a look and didn't even need to say "race!" before he was bolting to the door.

"Hey!" Rin yelled, instantly running after his brother. 

While Haru was a fast swimmer, he was not a very fast runner.  But the head start was enough to relish for a few moments.

Toraichi simply laughed and looked at Gou.  "You better make sure they don't get into trouble."

Gou looked up at him.  "I'm not sure they can stay out of trouble."

At that, Toraichi burst into laughter.  "You're probably right."

As soon as he was on deck, Rin ducked around sailors, trying to grab the back of his brother's shirt.

Haru whined a little when Rin grabbed the back of his shirt and turned to tackle Rin.

Rin flailed a bit as he was tackled to the floor before immediately trying to wriggle away from Haru.

Haru simply snickered before getting up and trying to run away again.

Scrambling to his feet, Rin chased after him once more, which earned another laugh from Haru.

After some time of racing, Souhei managed to track them down and pull them up by the backs of their shirts.  "Alright, that's enough horsing around.  It's time for dinner." He laughed a little at the kids . This was the first time he'd seen Haru so happy, and it was good to see Rin start to perk up as well.

Rin wriggled a bit when he was lifted up before stopping at the mention of food.  "I'm hungry!" he exclaimed, immediately running off to the galley as soon as Souhei set him down.

Haru gave Souhei a brief once-over before scampering off right after Rin.

Souhei had to laugh again.  It sure was lively, having three kids on the ship.

* * *

 

When the ship finally made port, Toraichi herded the kids off the gang plank and onto the dock.  The ship would be moved further out into the harbor once everything had been unloaded.  He'd leave that to his men, though, because the kids clinging to him seemed to be brimming with barely contained excitement.  Rin had even started hopping from foot to foot, something he seemed to do whenever he got excited.

Gou was also wiggling with excitement, and her head darted around, trying to catch a glimpse of EVERYTHING all at once.  There were just so many new things to look at.  She'd never been in a permanent settlement before, let alone seen this many humans all in one place.  "This is small?" she looked up at Toraichi.

Haru seemed to linger on the gangplank, and tended more to duck behind either Toraichi or Souhei and avoid the gaze of the other humans.  He only seemed to move forward out of a want to maintain his cover, or at least, direct eye contact with the back of their shirts.

Toraichi nodded at Gou's question as he started leading them to the inn.  "This is small.  I suppose it must seem big, compared to the ship.  So make sure to at least stick together, just in case you lose sight of me or the other sailors.  We'll find you easily if you're all in one place.  Understand, Rin?" he asked, directing the question at the little troublemaker.

Rin giggled a bit and nodded.  "I promise!  I won't leave Haru or Gou behind!"

Gou squeezed Toraichi's hand a little tighter.  "You'll come find us for sure?" she said, biting her lip as it wobbled slightly.

"I promise, Gou.  If you get lost, head to the inn, alright?  I will find you there," he said, smiling down at her.

Gou reached out to hug his leg tightly.

Slowing down to space himself further away from the adults, Haru looked away and held himself a little.  Toraichi wouldn't mean that for long.  He couldn’t.

Toraichi stopped walking to let Gou cling.  "Don't worry.  We'll find you."

Gou nodded.  The sailors were all so kind to them?  It was like having a new pod with some strange new habits, but nothing bad.  It was safe and they ate well and always had a nice spot to nap.

Haru didn't understand.  Toraichi had just found these kids in the middle of nowhere, and decided to keep them?  Even though their own family had left them all behind…

Toraichi patted her on the head gently.  "Now, let’s go to the inn, so you'll know where it is."  He smiled at them, turning back to make sure Haru was still with them.

Haru avoided eye contact with Toraichi but was still trailing behind them.  Whether or not he understood humans, they were feeding him and his siblings for now.  He guessed that was enough.

After rubbing her eyes a little, Gou gently held onto Toraichi's hand again.

Rin clung to Toraichi's other hand and reached back to grab Haru's hand so his brother didn't fall behind.

Haru gently clung to Rin's hand, letting the other boy pull him along.

Gou squeezed Toraichi's hand tightly as he led them to the inn.  The town was so big!  She didn't know if she could find her way around easily…  If it had been the ocean, it would've been much easier to swim up and look down.  It also felt strange being on land... it didn't move.

Rin wobbled every so often as he walked beside Toraichi, his legs unused to the stillness of land.  It didn't help that his legs still felt new and strange after having spent his entire life with a tail.

After a few more minutes of walking, Toraichi led the children through a large gate.  They followed a short path to a door and as they passed through it, Rin gasped softly.  The inside of the building was  _ huge _ !  Definitely much larger than the living quarters on the ship and there were people milling all about.

“This is the inn,” Toraichi said, laughing at their looks of amazement.  “I’m going to pay for a room.  Wait right here and don’t move.”  He looked directly at Rin as he said those last words, waiting until the boy nodded before walking off.

As soon as Toraichi left, Gou sat down on the ground.  She was exhausted!  It was hard walking on land, and she still wasn't used to how land moved (or rather, didn't).

Flopping beside his sister, Rin sat down and dragged Haru along with him.  He had gotten used to walking on the ship, since the sway of the sea felt natural, but this was just too strange!

Yawning, Rin leaned on Haru as he watched Toraichi walk off to speak to someone.

Haru grumped a little when Rin pressed against him.

Gou, in turn, leaned on her brother.  "Why are all these people here?" she whispered.

"I dunno?  Maybe they’re sailors too?" Rin asked, turning his gaze away from Toraichi to watch the humans walk past them.  "I smell food!  Maybe that’s why they’re here!"

Haru looked around a little before scooting even closer to his siblings.

On the other hand, Gou sat up a little straighter for a better view and grinned.  "It's so busy!  I've never seen so many different humans."

"There's more people than the ship," Rin said.  He kept looking around, unable to keep his attention on one person for too long.

Gou nodded!  "They look so different too."  While the pod had all closely resembled one another, with Haru having been the odd one out, the humans passing them by all looked different from each other.  Humans really were weird...  She had never really known anything about them, other than the stories her mother had told her.  But now, she was thinking that maybe those stories were false.

Haru scooted closer to his siblings, looking more at the floor than all the humans.  It was too loud, too busy, too bright.  If he could just curl up into his skin and enjoy the quiet lull of the ocean again...

Gou sniffed the air as the smell of food got stronger.  "I wonder what they're eating..."

"I dunno but I'm hungry!" Rin said, mouth watering.

"Well, good, because I ordered food to be brought to our room," Toraichi said as he walked over to the kids.  "Come on, let's go."  He held out his hands to help the kids up.

Gou really did need the help up, and made sure to help Haru up once she was up herself.  She was still a little shaky on the ground, but the promise of food was quite the motivation.

Once standing, Haru gently latched onto the edge of Toraichi's shirt.

Rin grabbed Toraichi's hand and let himself be pulled up.  His stomach growled as Toraichi led them down a long hallway.  Hopefully the food would get there soon…

Smiling, Toraichi pulled out a key and opened the door to their room.  He sighed in relief that it seemed relatively clean, with two futons laid out on the floor.  Hopefully the kids wouldn't mind sharing one.

Gou scampered inside as soon as Toraichi had the door open .  She looked all around the room to see what it was like. Strange mats padded the floor, and the doors were made of a thin material held together by wood, and, aside from the futons, there was only a plain low-rise table on the floor. "It's pretty plain..." she said.  It was really different than the captain's cabin.   
  
She moved over to squish at the futons. “Are these the beds? They’re so flat and small…”

Laughing at that, Toraichi helped the boys into the room.  "Yes, those are beds.  They’re traditional here.  And this place is only for staying temporarily rather than living, so it'll do for now." 

Wasting no time, Haru settled down on one of the futons and wrapped his skin around himself.

Gou blinked.  "Why can't we stay on the ship?"

“Well, we stay on land to get supplies.  But if you three want to go back to the ship tomorrow, you can."

Gou shook her head.  "I wanna see more human stuff."

Toraichi smiled.  "Alright."

There were so many new things to see!  Gou wiggled with excitement.  

After hopping around awkwardly on the strange floor, Rin moved to flop down next to Haru, grinning.  Things seemed really interesting here!

Haru leaned on his brother a little before Gou flopped right down on top of both of her siblings.

"Gou!" Rin whined, trying to shove her off, though he didn't put much effort into it.  He didn't want to hurt her, after all.

After taking a good moment to giggle, Gou rolled off to the side.

Toraichi chuckled softly, glad that the kids seemed to be alright.  At a knock on the door, he got up and went to open to door, smiling as one of the inn workers brought in a heaping tray of food.

Gou gasped when she saw the large amount of food.  Haru even perked up a little as the kids scrambled over to inspect the new types of food.

Toraichi helped the woman set the tray on the small table, smiling as the kids scampered over.  "Help yourselves, you three.  I'll dish up some stew for each of you."

"What's stew?" Rin asked, hopping up and down again as he snagged something that resembled the hard grains he had tried on the ship.  It was much softer though, and when he bit into it, he could actually chew it.  There was also some type of sauce covering it, giving it flavor he hadn’t tasted before.

Gou peeked over at the stew that Toraichi was dishing up, trying to figure out what was in the weird liquid.  Was it really food?  She wiggled a little in excitement.

Haru sniffed around.  "Is there fish?"

“Stew is made with different foods all cooked together,” Toraichi said as he set the bowls down on an empty part of the table.  "Be careful with it, though, because it's hot."  Smiling, he glanced at the tray, finding a small plate of dried fish.  "Here you go, Haru.  Eat some of the other stuff, too, alright?"

Haru stuffed a few fish in his mouth before hesitantly trying the stew...  It was pretty good but would've been better if it had fish in it, he decided.

Gou took a careful bite of stew before her eyes widened and she started to scarf it down.  It wasn't dry!  But it wasn't raw....  It was so strange!

Rin giggled a bit before dumping some of the stew on the soft grain-y stuff.  It soaked up the broth and he stuffed the combination into his mouth, eyes widening at the taste.  Wiggling happily, he tried to eat the stew as fast as he could.

"Slow down, Rin, or you'll get sick," Toraichi said, laughing softly.

Gou gasped when she saw Rin dump the stew onto the soft grain and copied her brother.  "What is this stuff?" She asked, looking up at Toraichi.

When Gou copied him, Rin grinned.  "It's yummy when you do this!"

"That's rice.  We keep it on the ship, but it can be tough to boil water to make it properly.  It’s best when it’s fresh and soft like this, isn’t it?" Toraichi asked, smiling at the kids.

Gou nodded and giggled a little.  "It's so much easier to eat," she nodded.  The solid grain was a lot like eating tiny fish bones, she thought.  It was crunchy and kind of weird, and not very tasty.  Though at least bones usually had marrow…

"Can't argue with that.  We'll bring some fresh rice with us on the ship, but it gets eaten pretty quickly.  This is part of the reason we love stopping at a port.  The food is always much better," he said, smiling at her.

Haru gasped.  "Even better than salted fish?"

"Even better," Toraichi said with a laugh.

Haru seemed awestruck at that.

“We can try more food tomorrow, alright?"

Rin nodded, mouth full of stew and rice.

Gou nodded eagerly as she continued to scarf down her food.

Toraichi finally settled down to eat as well, pausing every so often to make sure the kids weren't eating too fast.

Gou flopped down onto the floor when she was done.  She was stuffed!  "I really like stew," she said, laughing a little.

Haru glanced over before also laying down on his back.

Laughing at the kids as Rin joined his siblings on the floor, Toraichi finished his food and set the bowl aside.  "Do you want to take a bath tonight?"

At the question, Haru turned on his side to look up at Toraichi.  He wanted to swim!

Gou sat right up again.  "I wanna see what it's like!  A tiny swimming thing!"

It still amazed him how excited these kids got about things he saw as mundane.  "Alright, I'll tell them to bring up hot water and a tub."  Hopefully the tub would fit the three of them, so none of the kids had to bathe in cold water.  It would be easier to use the hot springs but with two of them having gills… It was better not to risk it.

Gou wiggled a little with excitement.  Humans had so many weird, new things!

As Toraichi left the room, Rin grinned at his siblings.  "I wonder if baths are fun..."  He wiggled a bit, just like his sister, excited to try this out

"He said it's like swimming, so it has to be," Haru said.

Gou stretched out. "Human stuff is so neat."

Haru shrugged a little.

“There's so much  _ stuff _ up here!" Rin said, grinning at them as he leaned on Gou.

Leaning back against Rin, Gou nodded in agreement.

A few minutes later, Toraichi returned with a large wooden tub.

Gou blinked at the tub.  Would they all fit in it?

Setting it down in the middle of the room, Toraichi frowned a bit before looking at the kids.  "I hope you all fit...  It'd be easier to bathe you all at once."

Wasting absolutely no time, Haru clambered into the tub, still dressed, and looked expectantly at his siblings.

Toraichi laughed at that.  "You can't get clean while dressed.  I'll show you what to do, so you can do it yourselves next time."

Rin laughed as well, scooting over to the edge of the tub and peeked into it.

Haru scoffed a little before stripping off his shirt and then dumping it on the bottom of the tub.  Humans and their clothes were weird.  

Still chuckling, Toraichi picked up the oversized shirt and set it aside.  "Tomorrow, we'll get you three clothes that actually fit."

"Why do humans wear clothes, anyway?" Rin asked, squirming out of his and climbing into the tub.

After copying her brothers, Gou wiggled into the tub with them.

Haru gave Toraichi a quizzical look. 

“Ah, I suppose you three have ways to deal with temperature in the water...  Well, here on the surface, humans have to wear clothes to stay warm.  They also provide protection for us from the sun or other weather conditions.  It's ah, also for decency.  Humans don't walk around without clothes, at least not here in Japan."

Gou tilted her head. "What's Japan?"

"The country we're in right now."

"What's a country?"

"Big places where humans live," Toraichi explained, smiling at her.

"So like... a sea?  But on land?"

"I suppose so.  The sea has different places and so does the surface world."

Gou blinked.  "Do you have dark places like the trenches?"  They weren't supposed to go that deep... but sometimes the weird glowing fish showed up and they were so pretty.

"We do.  Caves and mines go under the ground and there's no light down there.  But you don't have to worry about those," he reassured.

Gou gasped.  "Are there monsters there too?"

Toraichi's first instinct was to say no but then again, he hadn't really believed the elders and their tales of merfolk until he'd met these kids.  "Who knows?  I've never seen one, though."

"I don't want to go there then..."

Haru sat in the tub, wondering where the water was.

"You won't have to," Toraichi said, smiling at her.  Finally, there was a knock on the door and he got up to answer it.  Two of the inn workers stood outside the door, a large bucket of warm water in each hand.

Toraichi had them set the buckets down in the doorway, not wanting to make the kids uncomfortable by having strangers come into the room.

Haru had ducked down into the tub at the knock while Gou peered over the edge to try to catch a glimpse.

Wiggling over to the edge of the tub, Rin craned his neck, trying to see what was going on.  Toraichi seemed to be talking to someone but no one came in the room.  After a few moments, Toraichi brought four buckets into the room before shutting the door.

"Water's here, kids."

Haru perked up again at that while Gou couldn't contain her excitement.

Toraichi laughed softly, carrying two of the buckets over to the tub.  "Alright, sit still so it doesn't splash everywhere.  We don't want the innkeepers getting mad at us for getting their room all wet."

"I won't move!" Rin said, trying to sit as still as possible.  It was difficult for him but he wanted to make sure to be good!

Haru nodded while Gou tried to cling to him for support.  He was good at sitting still.

Laughing softly at their antics, Toraichi carefully poured the two buckets into the tub before heading back to the door to grab the other two.

Rin had jumped a bit at the warmth of the water before trying to settle down.  However, he'd been out of the ocean for so long that he'd forgotten what would happen to his legs if he got them wet.

There was that strange tingling feeling again before his legs fused together and his grey tail was back.

Gou shivered happily as her tail reformed, practically identical to her brother's.  Since they were not fully submerged, her gills didn't reopen; but she wiggled her fingers as the webbing between them expanded again.  It felt good to be at least somewhat back to normal.

Haru, on the other hand, remained unchanged and was practically indistinguishable from a human.

Wiggling as well, Rin tried his best to make sure that the water didn't splash out of the tub as he stretched out his tail.  Legs were alright but nothing felt better than being back to normal!

"Oh, well, that's new," Toraichi said as he turned around to find two merchildren in the tub.  "I suppose that happens when you get your legs wet, huh?" he asked, pouring the remaining two buckets of water into the tub.  "And Haru... you're still the same?"

Gou wiggled happily.  She nodded.  "The legs were a big surprise."

Haru glanced away when Toraichi's attention switched to him.  He quickly scooted down to dunk his head entirely underwater.  That was certainly a way to avoid the conversation.

Rin wiggled to the edge of the tub, grinning up at Toraichi.  "Yeah!  Legs only happened when we dried out!  And Haru's a seal!  So he can look human without his skin!"

Toraichi's eyes widened slightly as he glanced at Haru.  "Well, we'll have to make sure his skin stays safe then."

Gou quickly spoke up, her mind still on the topic of legs.  "Legs are SO weird.  There are two of them!  And they can move separately.  And it takes so long to walk places."

"But I guess humans can't use tails on land!  There's no water!  Even if legs seem silly!" Rin said, giggling again.

Haru peeked out of the water a little as the others talked.

"You three are special," Toraichi said, ruffling Rin's hair.  "Just remember, don't tell strangers about what you are.  None of the crew will do anything but there are humans out there that aren't as nice."  He hated having to bring this up, but he supposed now was as good a time as any.  He just wanted the kids to know to be careful.

Gou nodded.  "Our m- pod told us about how all humans are bad and will hurt us and use merpeople to do bad things...  But you guys are really nice!"

"There are some humans like that.  I suppose your pod would only know about those ones..." Toraichi said, frowning slightly.  "But you'll be safe with the crew.  All we want is for you kids to grow up safely."

"Why?" Haru looked directly at Toraichi.  He genuinely didn't understand.

"Why what?"

"Why are you doing all this for us?"

"You needed someone to take care of you.  Most of us have kids of our own, so we couldn't just leave you there.  You're like family now, Haru."  Toraichi smile and reached out to pat Haru on the head.

Haru wibbled slightly at that.  "Even if we're a bother...?"  He ducked a little closer towards the water so any tears would be easily lost in the bathwater.  He wouldn't think back to their pod.  Or the first family he ever had.  He wouldn't.  It had just been... an inconvenience.

"Oh Haru, you're not a bother.  You're a lot of help, especially now that you can walk.  You can keep Rin occupied," Toraichi said, laughing softly as he saw Rin pout.  "Besides, the cook says you help out in the galley sometimes, so how can you be a burden?"

Gou glanced over at Haru.  She didn't know much about where Haru had been before she and Rin found him... but she knew enough to tell that their pod hadn't been the first time Haru was abandoned.

Haru shrugged a little.  He felt tiny and the crew had to help him out a lot when they had to do things.  He stumbled a lot and had a lot to learn about human stuff.

"It'll be alright, Haru.  All you have to do is work on growing up."  Toraichi smiled softly at him.

Rin wiggled closer to his brother, throwing his arms around him.  "It'll be alright, Haru!!  You're the best!"

Gou hugged her big brother close. "Yeah!  We're all a pod now and we're not gonna leave you behind!"

Haru clung tightly to his siblings.

"See?  Even Rin and Gou agree, so it must be true," Toraichi said, letting the kids cling to each other for a moment.  "Alright, time to get you kids cleaned."

Gou nodded before sitting back when Toraichi spoke again.

Haru rubbed his eyes a little.

Toraichi grabbed the bar of soap the inn had provided and several clothes.  "Remember how we wash on the ship?  It's similar but we use this.  It's soap and it cleans off dirt from us.  We'll also wash your hair.  We can cut it too, if you want."

Gou blinked.  "Cut it?"  She fidgeted with her hair nervously.  She liked how long it was... even if she did trip on it on land.

"Only if you want, Gou," Toraichi said, smiling at her as he handed her a soapy cloth.

"I wanna keep mine long!" Rin declared, grasping at the long locks.  Everyone in the pod had long hair, so he wanted to keep it as a connection to his old life.

Gou nodded at Rin's comment.  She wiggled a little.  "Some of the humans had funny looking hair.  Why?"

"Funny how?" Toraichi asked, handing soapy cloths to Rin and Haru as well.

Gou shrugged a little. "It was shaped all funny instead of long like ours."

Toraichi laughed softly.  "Some humans like doing things with their hair."  He dunked his hands in the water, getting the soap wet again, before carefully trying to wash Gou's hair.  "I can show you kids how to tie up your hair if you want to keep it long."

Gou nodded eagerly.  "I wanna look pretty!"

Haru shook his head.  He liked his hair just the way it was.  Though it was nice to have it wet and untangled again.

"Me too!  I wanna look really manly!" Rin said, wiggling happily and splashing water around.

Laughing softly, Toraichi said, "Alright, I'll make sure to keep that in mind."  He ran the soap over Gou's hair, working up a lather to try and clean out all the salt from the sea and ocean spray that hit the ship.

Gou relaxed at the soft touches.  She liked having her hair washed a lot.  It was gentle and repetitive.  It reminded her a little of home…

Rin washed himself as he watched his sister.  She seemed to really like having her hair washed...  "Wash my hair next!"

"Of course Rin, but you have to be patient, alright?" Toraichi said, making sure to wash all of Gou's hair.

Gou relaxed into the tub once Toraichi was done.  Baths were nice, she decided.

After rinsing her hair, Toraichi scooted over to where Rin was wiggling happily.  "Alright, Rin, but you need to hold still," he said with a laugh, starting to wash Rin's hair once the boy settled down.  Well, as much as Rin could settle down, what with his endless energy and all.

Gou whined a little when Rin splashed her.  But for his part, Haru simply splashed back.

Rin stuck his tongue out at his siblings before relaxing at the soothing touches to his scalp.  Who knew washing his hair would feel so nice?

Gou giggled a little.  "It feels nice, right?"  She looked up at Toraichi.  "Will we do this every time?"

Rin nodded.  "It does!"

"Yes, we all try to bathe fully whenever we make port."

Haru blinked.  "How often do we make port?"  The more baths, the better in Haru's humble opinion.

"We try to make port at least every two months.  It's difficult, since the ship depends on the sea."  As he rinsed Rin's hair, Toraichi glanced over at Haru.  "I take it you like the bath?"

"Want a bigger tub, but this is nice."

Laughing, he moved to wash Haru's hair.  "Maybe we can get a bigger tub next time.  Especially because a certain someone can't seem to keep still."  Toraichi's tone was light and teasing as he noticed Rin start to wiggle happily again.

Haru moved away a little at first before slowly relaxing into the touch.  Gou giggled.  "Rin is never still."

Toraichi made sure to be careful, not wanting to startle Haru.  "Rin's always running around, so I'm not surprised he's the same in the water."

"I can be still!" Rin huffed, pouting at them.  However, his tail betrayed him by swishing happily in the water.

Gou giggled. "I told you~"

Rin stuck his tongue out at his sister before wiggling over to Haru.  "Doesn't it feel nice?"  He supposed baths weren't  _ that _ bad if it meant getting his hair washed, even if he would rather be playing.

Haru shrugged a little.  "It's weird."  He stared a little at the wall, feeling a weird sense of relaxation. The petting and washing was calming and felt nice but... it was so foreign to him.   Haru wasn't even sure what to expect.

Giggling a bit, Rin leaned on his brother.  Even if Haru acted like he wasn't enjoying himself, Rin could read his brother pretty well by now so he knew that wasn’t true.

Leaning back against Rin, Haru fidgeted a little with his hands.  Was this really alright...?  Was Toraichi going to stay?

Taking one of Haru's hands, Rin patted at it gently to try to calm him down.

"All done Haru," Toraichi said softly as he rinsed the boy's hair.

Haru gently held onto Rin's hand before looking up at Toraichi when he was done.  He really wasn't sure what to do now.

Toraichi rinsed his hands off, smiling at Haru.  "I'll get some towels so you can dry off.  The water's getting cold, plus it's dirty now, so let's get you out, alright?"

Rin wiggled happily, still holding onto Haru's hand.

Haru pulled his legs up to his chest and wrapped his free arm around them.

Gou wiggled her tail a little.  "We might need help getting out...."  She didn't want to knock over the tub.

"Alright, I'll help you out in a moment."  With that, Toraichi stood up and went to get some towels from the small cupboard in the room.

Haru wasn't sure he wanted to get out of the tub and back onto dry land.

Coming back with the towels, Toraichi reached down to scoop Gou out of the water first.  He gently wrapped one of the towels around her before setting her down beside the tub.

Gou giggled a little when she got wrapped in the towel.  "It's so fluffy," she said, wiggling a little when she was on the floor.

"It is," Toraichi said, smiling as he pulled Rin out of the water.  Thankfully, the boy managed to keep his wiggling to a minimum until he joined his sister on the floor.

"Soft," Rin whispered, running his fingers over the fabric.

By the time Toraichi turned around, Haru was trying to step out of the tub on wobbly feet.

Gou gasped a little. "Be careful, Haru!"

Toraichi held out a hand for Haru to steady the boy but he made sure to let Haru decide if he wanted the help or not.

Haru hesitated before wobbling again.  He very carefully reached out to take Toraichi's hand to steady himself and step out fully.  Once stable, he let go and held out a hand for the towel.

When Haru was safely out of the tub, Toraichi handed him the towel.  "There you go, Haru.  All clean."

Haru nodded a little before he bundled himself up in the towel and flopped down near his siblings.

Gou scooted closer and reached out a hand to pat Haru on top of his head.

Rin moved closer too before rubbing the towel against his tail, trying to dry off faster.  While he'd miss his tail, legs definitely made getting around on the surface much easier.

Gou missed having a tail, so she was happy enough to just let herself dry in due time.  She giggled a little with them. "Baths sure are fun!"

After scooting a little closer to them, Haru nodded.

"I guess but I'd rather be playing," Rin muttered, focused on patting his tail dry.  Not being able to move around in the tub had be  _ so hard! _

Haru huffed.  "It's like playing, but with water!"  And it was quiet and calm.  What wasn't there to like?

“Sitting isn't playing!" Rin shot back.

Haru rolled his eyes.  "It can be."

Gou pouted.  "Don't fight..."

"Booooooring."  With that, Rin turned back to drying off his tail.

Haru threw his towel at Rin.

Rin yelped as the towel hit him in the face, which earned a snicker from Haru.  How was that for boring?

Gou rolled her eyes at them.  Those two…

Yanking the towel off his head, Rin tried to lunge for Haru.  He forgot that his legs hadn't reappeared and so he ended up flopping onto the floor.

Haru just scooted back and cackled as he watched his brother stick out his tongue and try to sit up again.

Toraichi had kept his eye on them, just in case the boys went too far.  It didn't happen often, but sometimes they would just push each other's buttons too much and it usually ended with Rin crying and Haru sulking.

Haru rolled his eyes at Rin and tried to stifle a little yawn.  "You're dumb."

“Nu-uh!  You're dumb!" Rin shot back, exhaustion from the long day creeping up on him and making him cranky.

"Boys," Toraichi cut in, not wanting this to escalate.  "You can find different things fun.  That's perfectly fine."

Haru huffed.  "He's the one who said my thing was dumb... ‘cause he's dumb,"  Haru muttered the last part.

"I-I'm not dumb!" Rin said, his voice starting to tremble.

"You're not, Rin.  Haru's just upset because you made fun of something he likes.  So both of you need to be nice to each other.  Alright?" Toraichi asked, glancing between both boys.

Crossing his arms, Haru huffed and turned away.

Gou sighed a little.  Why couldn't they just get along?

Sighing a bit, Toraichi was about to say something when there was another knock on the door.  Giving the kids one more look, he went to open it, relieved to see that it was just Souhei with some clothes for the kids.

Haru stayed quiet.

Souhei handed Toraichi a stack of clothing, including proper nightgowns for each of the kids.  "We can find more clothes for them tomorrow, but this should be good for now."

"Thank you.  I think they're getting tired," Toraichi said, glancing back at the trio to make sure they weren't bickering again.

Haru scooted himself back over to his skin and the futon before wrapping the magic item around himself, covering his head a little.

Gou snuggled tighter into her towel and curled up a little.

Sulking, Rin pulled himself to his feet once his legs appeared.  He made sure his towel was wrapped around himself before walking over to Toraichi.

Souhei smiled down at Rin when the boy appeared by Toraichi's side.  "Hey there, Rin.  Make sure to get a lot of rest tonight, so you kids can explore tomorrow."

Rin nodded a bit, clinging to Toraichi's pant leg as he stifled a yawn with his hand.

Haru pulled his skin over himself a little more, until he was completely covered.

Gou sat up a little and looked over at the adults.

Toraichi patted Rin on the head.  "Let's get ready for bed.  We'll see you in the morning, Souhei."

"Aye, Captain."  With that, Souhei left.

Gou blinked a little.  "What did he bring?"

"Clothes," Toraichi said, closing the door and making sure to lock it.  One could never be too careful.  He walked over to Gou, somewhat awkwardly, since Rin was still clinging to his leg.  "He brought nightgowns.  These will be much more comfortable for you to sleep in."

Gou gently dabbed her tail with the towel so she could finally have legs again.  Once dry, she clung to Toraichi as she tried to stand.

Smiling, Toraichi helped Rin and Gou into the night gowns, showing them how to put it on.  "How does it feel?"

Rin twirled around a bit, watching the fabric swish around with him.  "It's comfy..."

Gou twirled a little.  "It's soft!"

"Good.  Now do you want to put your hair up before bed?  I can braid it for you."

Gou nodded.

Toraichi sat down on his futon.  "Alright, sit next to me and I'll show you."

Rin scrambled over, flopping onto the futon to sit beside the captain.

Grinning brightly, Gou wiggled onto it as well to sit on the other side of Toraichi.

Leaning over to rummage through his travel bag, Toraichi grabbed his comb before turning to the siblings.  "Who wants to go first?"

Gou hesitated before pointing at her brother.  She knew Rin would whine if he didn't go first.

Rin grinned and nodded when Gou pointed at him.  "I wanna go first!"

Toraichi laughed softly before starting to gently brush the tangles out of Rin's hair.  Thankfully it was easier with the hair being wet and clean, because their hair had been akin to a rat's nest before this.

Gou leaned on Toraichi's arm to watch closely, while Haru peeked out of his blanket a little to see what was going on.

Sitting still was hard but Rin tried his best not to move around, even when the comb caught on a knot of hair.

"Brushing your hair often will help keep the tangles out," Toraichi explained as he carefully worked through the knot.

"Why does it tangle so much?" Gou asked. Longer hair was so much easier underwater... but still, she wanted to keep her hair.

“Well, the wind out at sea blows it around and it getting dirty also leads to tangles.  Rin here probably has so many because he's always running about and getting into everything."

Giggling at that, Rin glanced back at Toraichi.  "But doing that stuff is fun!"

Gou laughed a little when Toraichi teased Rin.  "He's always been that way!"

Rin stuck his tongue out at Gou before going back to trying to sit still.

Once Rin's hair the nicely brushed, Toraichi set about to braiding the boy's hair.  Hopefully this would keep it from getting as messy as it was before the bath.

Gou stuck her tongue right back at Rin.  "What's this hair thing called?"

"A braid.  It's a pretty good way of keeping the hair all together instead of all over the place," Toraichi said, smiling at her.

Gou nodded.  "It's pretty."

"No, it's handsome!  Because I'm wearing it!" Rin said with a huff.

Laughing again, Toraichi finished the braid and tied the end with a scrap of cloth.  "It can be both, Rin.  Pretty for Gou and handsome for you."

Gou huffed.  "I still think it's pretty."

"Alright Gou, your turn.  Rin, you can get into bed if you want," Toraichi said, starting to brush Gou's hair.

Rin nodded and scrambled over to Haru, wiggling under the covers next to his brother.

Haru grumped at Rin before hiding deeper under the covers.

Gou immediately wiggled in front of Toraichi once Rin had moved. She relaxed once Toraichi started to brush her hair.  With fewer knots than Rin, getting her hair brushed felt really nice.

Pouting, Rin huffed at him before turning to watch his sister.

Toraichi brushed her hair faster than Rin's, because of the lack of tangles.  He supposed it was because she wasn't always getting into everything possible like Rin was.

Gou hummed a little song one of the sailors had taught them as Toraichi brushed her hair.

Smiling, Toraichi hummed along with her, as he set the brush aside and started to braid her hair.

The humming was relaxing and as Rin watched his sister, he felt his eyes growing heavy. Haru scooted a little towards Rin as he got sleepier.

Gou liked the songs that the sailors taught her!  They sounded nice, and she liked it when they all sang together and made everything feel like a pod again.

Rin shifted a bit, curling closer to Haru for warmth as he started to drift off.

Once he finished braiding her hair and tied the end, Toraichi patted Gou on the head.  "Time for bed."

Gou yawned sleepily and rubbed her eyes before crawling under the covers to smush close to her brothers.  They had had a big day of exploring the town and seeing all the new human things.

Toraichi made sure the three of them were all tucked in before getting himself ready for bed.  The next day would be spent gathering supplies, so he needed to get as much rest as he could.

* * *

 

Haru was up bright and early, but he mostly just wanted to enjoy the peace and quiet... Unfortunately for him, the town around was also starting to wake up - with all their chatter, and carts, and pushing things around, and slamming doors, and animals.  Haru bundled himself in his skin to try to block out some of the sounds.

When Haru shifted, Rin woke up slightly.  Hearing the noises coming from outside, he rubbed at his eyes.  It took him a moment to remember where they were but the stillness of the surface world quickly reminded him.  He had never imagined that he would miss the rocking of the ocean this much.

Haru curled closer towards Rin, hoping to use his brother as a sound barrier.

Yawning, Rin snuggled closer and pulled the blankets over them.  Maybe that would keep the sound out.

The stirrings of the crew and the sounds of the ship hadn't ever been as loud or as bothersome as this town was.  There had been something regular about the ship... and Haru knew the sailors personally.

"'s loud," Rin grumbled, squirming a bit as though he could somehow get away from the noise by burrowing further into the mound of blankets.

Haru nodded and smushed closer to Rin.

Gou stirred at that and perked up when she heard the people outside.  She scampered out of bed to press her face against the window to watch all the humans.

Gou left a cold spot on Rin's other side and he whined softly, pulling the blankets closer around him.

Gou smushed her face against the window to try to follow all the busy humans with her eyes!  She watched as one woman started to set out different types of food Gou had never seen before!  Gou spotted round beige things and funny fish shaped food and many other types of food.  It all looked so yummy!  Gou watched as a man in some funny clothes walked by before heading out of sight.

Since the noise didn't seem to be letting up, Rin grumbled again and finally wiggled out of bed.  He yawned loudly before walking over to Gou.  "What're you looking at...?"

Gou wiggled a little and started pointing out people.  "That lady's food place looks really yummy!  I've never seen an entire thing of food like that!"  She pointed at a bunch more people.  "They all have such funny clothes!  And hair!"

Rin's eyes followed Gou's finger, watching all the people pass by.  "There're so many humans..."

Gou nodded.  "I've never seen so many.  They're all so busy."

"It's weird...  I wonder if it's like this everywhere humans live."

"I dunno," Gou stared down at the humans.  "Toraichi said that this is a tiny place for humans.... but it's so big!"

"How can it be tiny if there's so many people?" Rin wondered aloud, watching as the humans milled about.

Gou nodded in agreement.  "How much bigger could something be?"

"I don't know..."  It was hard to believe that there were apparently human settlements bigger than this one.

"There must be like... 20 pods just in this town!"  It boggled Gou's mind to even think about more than three pods in once place.

"That's so many!"  Did everyone know each other?  Surely not, there were too many people!

Gou nodded.

"Weird," Rin mumbled, turning away from the window as his stomach growled.  Toraichi wasn't in the room but the table was full of new food.

Gou nudged him.  "Let's eat while we watch people!"

"Yeah!"  Rin went over to the table, grabbing some rice and salted meat before scurrying over to the window again.

Gou gathered up some food, before glancing briefly at Haru.  She placed down a bowl of rice and the fish right by her brother before going back for some meat and rice for herself.

Haru sat up, still bundled in blankets, to eat his food while his siblings stared at the humans.

Stuffing rice in his mouth, Rin looked down at the people.  Sometimes he'd spot a member of the crew walking around with their arms full of things.  Probably the supply things that Toraichi had talked about.

Gou wiggled a little.  "Do you think... we're really a pod with these humans?"  She bit her lip.  Toraichi and Souhei and all the crew were so soft and nice…

"Why not?  I mean... Haru's not exactly like us but he's family, right?" Rin shrugged as he spoke.  "Besides, they like to live on the sea too."

Gou nodded a little.

"Humans don't have pods," Haru said quietly, with an edge to his words.  Gou looked over at him.

Rin glanced back at Haru as well.  "They don't?"

"They don't."

Gou bit her lip.  "But they can have families... Like us."  She knew something bad had happened to Haru before.  She went over to hug her brother.  "These humans might be our family... not our pod, not your old one."

Rin bit his lip, glancing out at the humans before going over to Haru and hugging him as well.

Haru gently hugged them.  He wasn't so sure about humans, he really wasn't.  But the crew was kinder to him than the pod ever was... and he trusted Rin and Gou, more than anyone else.

"We'll always stay with you, Haru!  So you don't have to worry about that!" Rin said, smushing close to his brother.

Gou nodded!  "If they turn out bad, we'll all run away again!"

“Yeah!  We'll find somewhere else to go!" Rin said, nodding along with his sister.

Haru hid his face against Rin's nightgown and nodded.

Patting the top of his brother's head, Rin made soft shushing noises, like the ones his mother had made whenever he'd been upset.

Haru just clung tightly to his siblings for a good long while, until he calmed down enough to sit up and rub his eyes.  "Sorry..."

Rin sat beside his brother, holding out a dried fish for him.  "It's fine!"

Haru shrugged a little before chowing down on the dried fish.  Gou scooted over to grab a cup of tea to hand Haru, since she didn't want him to dry out!

Once Haru started eating, Rin went back to focusing on his own food.

Gou settled down with her brothers, petting on both of them gently.  Haru and Rin might fight sometimes... but they're still family.

The little squabble the brothers had had the night before was all but forgotten now as Rin sat close to his siblings as he ate.

The door opened and the kids looked up to see Toraichi enter the room with his arms full of clothing.  Rin hopped up, mouth covered in stray rice grains as he ran over to the man.

"What're those?" he asked, standing on his toes to try to see the clothes better.

Toraichi laughed as he set the clothing down on his futon.  "I got proper clothes for the three of you.  They're a bit big but you'll grow into them."

Gou perked up and scampered over to Toraichi, close behind Rin.  She wiggled behind Rin until Toraichi put the clothes down, and she ran over to look at them.  "Proper clothes?"

She lifted up a pair of pants and put them on her head.

"Yes, instead of just running around in old shirts of mine," Toraichi said, smiling at Gou's antics.  "Those go on your legs, silly.  Just like the sailors."

Rin snickered at his sister before poking at the other clothes.

Gou laughed a little before wiggling.  "But I think it could be pretty like this!  It's like hair!"  She twirled her head a little.

Haru let out a loud laugh at that, caught in one of his very rare giggle fits.

Toraichi glanced at Haru in surprise before laughing as well.  "You already have hair, Gou."

Giggling as well, Rin grabbed a pair of pants and tried to put them on, glancing at Toraichi every few seconds to make sure he was putting them on right.

Gou grinned more when Haru and Toraichi started to laugh.  She then wiggled her head wildly, trying to make the pant legs go in circles.

Haru couldn't stop giggling and covered his mouth with his hand.  Alas, the move was to no avail.  Once he had started giggling, it was hard to stop.

Once Rin was sure the pants were on right, he ran over to Haru, tugging on his arm gently.  "C'mon Haru!  You get pants too!"

Toraichi watched the two boys, laughing harder when he realized Rin had put the pants on backwards.

Once Rin started tugging on him and whining, Haru started to settle down.  He still giggled a little but managed to huff at Rin.  "Do I have to have pants?"

"Pants are the easiest to move around in on a ship, especially these because they’re tighter on the legs than traditional pants," Toraichi said, smiling at the boys.  "Wearing clothes is also proper for humans."

Gou nodded.  "Do you have pants for your arms too?"

"Just shirts," Toraichi said, showing Gou the shirts.

"Human clothes are so weird.”.

Haru nodded in agreement

"I suppose they can be.  But it's necessary to make sure people think you're human."

Gou nodded a little at that.  She hesitated before trying to put on the pants and shirt, copying how Toraichi had shown her with the oversized clothes she and the others had worn on the ship.

"Good job, Gou," Toraichi encouraged her, patting her on the head. Gou preened at the affection.

Without a word, Haru started to put on the clothes.  At least they were loose.

Rin grabbed a shirt and attempted to put it on himself, only needing Toraichi's help once when his arm got stuck in one of the sleeves.

Haru put his pants on fine, but his shirt was inside out.  Haru was none too bothered about this either, and just flopped back down onto the futon.

Toraichi smiled at the kids, figuring that they'd eventually learn how to put the clothes on properly.  No one would really question it, given their age and all.

Gou wiggled.  "Can we go see the human stuff now?"

"Of course.  What do you want to see?"

"Everything!"  Gou looked at Toraichi like he had asked the most obvious question ever!

Laughing, Toraichi turned to Gou's brothers.  "What about you two?"

"Food!  I wanna see food!" Rin said, hungry again despite having eaten only a few minutes ago.

Haru thought for a little bit.  "Fish."

"I should have known," he said, laughing softly.  "Ready to go?"

Gou grabbed onto Haru's hand and gently pulled him towards Toraichi.  Haru nodded and let himself be pulled along.

Rin nodded, bouncing over to Toraichi and clinging to his shirt.  "I wanna see everything!"

Gou wiggled happily.  "Me too!!"   


Toraichi herded the kids out the door, turning to hand Haru a small bag.  “You can keep your skin safely in here,” he said, helping the boy tuck it safely into the pouch.  Smiling, he ruffled Haru’s hair before trying to think of things the kids would like to see.

"I saw a lady with a lot of that food stuff!  Why does she have so much?"  Gou tugged at Toraichi's arm.

"She's probably a baker.  They're the people that make food for others to eat," he said, smiling down at her.  "We'll buy some fresh food for the ship, though it won't last."

"Why does she do that?"  The fact that it wouldn't last long made sense.  She and Rin tried to eat as MUCH of it as they could get their hands on.

"Well, it's how she makes a living.  On land, people work to make something called money, which lets them buy food and clothes," Toraichi said, smiling as they passed the bakery.

Gou nodded, it was weird, but sometimes they would trade stuff with other pods that they passed.  She frowned.  "Why would she trade food for money?  Why not keep it all for herself?"

"Well, because her job is to help feed other people.  We can't just go out and catch fish whenever we want to, y'know," Toraichi said, buying each of them a red bean bun.

Gou blinked at that.  "Why not?"

"Well, because we have settlements like this.  There aren't wild animals wandering around, and we grow a lot of food."

"Sounds complicated..." Gou looked down at her bun.

"It can be.  But you won't have to worry about that any time soon," he said, smiling as he watched Rin try to shove the whole bun in his mouth.

Haru took a cautious bite of the treat before scarfing it down.

Gou nodded a little.  Humans were so weird...  She didn't think she would come to understanding them any time soon.  She shifted a little on her feet before starting to eat the bun.  "Yum!"

Rin finished his quickly before turning his attention back to all the people wandering around.

After the kids ate, Toraichi tried to herd them towards the fish market.

Gou tried to wander off a few times to look in shop windows, but Toraichi somehow managed to get them there.

Toraichi had to keep hold of the back of Rin's shirt because he was always trying to run off.  At least when Gou wandered off, she stayed fairly close.  Thankfully, Haru stayed close to his side.  Well, until they made it to the fish market and it looked like the boy was ready to run off to see everything.

Haru perked up as soon as he could smell the fish and he slipped out of Toraichi's grasp to start inspecting the fish.  Turning up his nose at a few stalls, he finally located one that, apparently, was up to his standards.  He started poking around at the fish.

Pulling the other two kids along with him, Toraichi quickly followed Haru, not wanting to lose him in the crowd.  He sent an apologetic smile to the fishmonger before looking at the fish.  "Do you want them, Haru?"

Haru looked thoughtfully at the fish before sniffing a few.  He gently poked at the skin before settling on a particularly fine specimen of mackerel.  "This one... please."

The fishmonger laughed softly before picking up the fish and wrapping it in up in a parcel.  "Kid sure knows fish, huh?" he said to Toraichi as he held the fish out to Haru.

"He sure does.  He's quite helpful," Toraichi replied, handing the man some coins.

Haru shyly ducked behind Toraichi, when he realized the fishmonger was watching.

Toraichi laughed and patted Haru's head.  "Take your fish, Haru."

Haru peeked out from behind Toraichi before hiding again.  He waited another moment before snatching the fish and moving back behind Toraichi as fast as he could.  He mumbled a thank you, once safely hidden.

Rin watched his brother, snickering softly only to also hide behind Toraichi when the fishmonger glanced at him as well.

Gou hid a little behind Toraichi, but there wasn't much room with Haru and Rin already ducking behind him.  She waved a little before looking down at the ground.

Toraichi chuckled softly before bowing to the man and trying to herd the kids away.  It was difficult, since Haru and Rin were clinging to his pant legs.

Haru held his fish close to his chest with one arm, while the other was firmly latched onto Toraichi's pant legs.

Gou wiggled around.  "There are so many people!"

Rin clung onto Toraichi, looking at all the people walking past them.  "There are..."  He still couldn't believe there were so many people in one place.

Haru stuck as close to Toraichi as he could manage.  He was not one for crowds.

"What do you kids want to do now?" Toraichi asked.

Gou thought for a moment.  "I wanna play."

"Want to go back to the ship and swim?"

Haru perked up at that.

Gou beamed.  "I'd love that!"

Smiling, Toraichi led them to the docks.  "Just make sure to stay on the side of the ship not facing land, alright?"

Gou nodded.  She didn't want to be caught by bad humans.

Before Toraichi had even finished his sentence, Haru was already wiggling out of his clothes and pulling his skin out of the bag he carried around.

Toraichi let go of Rin and Gou so he could grab Haru, trying to get him to keep his clothes on.  "Haru, you need to wait until we're by the ship," he said softly.  "I don't want anything to happen to you three."

Haru pouted at that before pulling his shirt back down.  It was annoying being all dry and still on land.  He wanted to feel the water again…

"I know it's not fun, but it's best to be safe.  Now come on," he said, leading the kids over to the small boat that would take them to the ship.

Gou skipped over to the boat before clambering in.  She held out a hand to help Haru into the boat.

Toraichi lifted Rin into the boat, not trusting the boy not to wiggle too much and end up falling or something.

Haru held his bag and his fish close to his chest and willed the little boat to go faster.

Toraichi helped another one of the sailors row the boat, going as fast as he could because he could tell the kids were impatient.

Haru leaned over the side to look out at the water.  He missed the sea more than he could ever express.

Rin held onto Gou, trying his best not to move around too much in his excitement.  He was finally going to swim again!!

When they got closer to the ship, Haru could barely contain his excitement.

The two men rowed to the far side of the ship, wanting to make sure they were out of sight before the kids could jump in the water.

As soon as they were blocked by the ship, Haru was pulling off his clothes.  In a single fluid motion, Haru wrapped his skin around himself as he jumped into the ocean, transforming from a human child into a seal before the men's very eyes.

Gou took a little longer to remove her clothes, but wasted no time in jumping in after Haru.  She sighed happily when she felt her tail return and her gills open up once more.

Rin followed shortly after Gou, laughing happily as his legs fused into their proper form and the water ran over his gills.  Grinning brightly, he swam over to Haru.  "Let's race!!"

As soon as Rin said the word race, Haru was off, swimming as fast as he could!  Haru was right at home, there in the water.  There was something more comfortable, more alive about being surrounded by water than there was with air, for him.  Haru could feel the push and the pull, and the connections with everything around him.  Nothing felt better than to swim as fast as he could with his siblings.

Grin widening, Rin took off after his brother, the cool sea water feeling like home to him.  The two of them darted about, swimming circles around Gou and zipping under the small boat, much to the amusement of the adults.

Gou giggled happily and did a few flips and turns in the water.  It was so nice to swim again!  Sure she could run and twirl on land but it wasn't quite like the agility she enjoyed while underwater.

Haru darted around, clearly in his element once more.

Toraichi smiled a bit as he watched the children before shouting up to the sailors on deck to throw down ropes for the boat.  He'd leave it in the water while they kids swam, but tied to the ship so it wouldn't drift off.

After playing around for a bit, Gou nudged Rin.  "We can hunt for fish better than they can. Let's surprise them!"

Rin gasped softly and nodded.  "We'll surprise them with a bunch of fish!"

Gou nodded eagerly before swimming off to start gathering fish.  

Swimming with Gou, the two of them herded a school of fish closer to the boat before Rin spun quickly, smacking them with his tail.  He grinned brightly and grabbed as many of the stunned fish as he could before tossing them onto the boat.

While Haru could only carry one or two fish in his mouth, he went about trying to catch fish he could spit out onto the boat.

Toraichi startled as several fish were dropped at his feet and when he looked at the water, he was greeted by Rin's wide, sharp toothed grin.

Gou followed her brother in snatching up as many stunned fish as she could, and dumped even more fish at Toraichi's feet.  Haru jumped up onto the boat to deposit two fish on the pile.

As the pile of fish grew, Toraichi started to laugh.  "I guess you three really are better at catching fish than humans."

Rin giggled, holding onto the sides of the boat.  "They're easy to get!"

Gou nodded eagerly.  “You helped us, so we can help you!"

"Thank you.  I suppose we won't have to worry about getting fresh fish," Toraichi said, ruffling the two merkids' hair before patting Haru on the head gently.

Haru preened a little.  

"We can get all the fish you guys need!"  Gou flexed her arm.

"Well I think this is enough fish for right now.  So why don't you swim around until it gets dark?" he said.

Rin nodded happily before diving back into the water.

Haru flopped over to the edge of the boat before diving right back into the water to play with his siblings.

Time seemed to move too quickly and before Rin knew it, night had fallen and the water grew dark.  He surfaced and swam over to the boat, letting Toraichi lift him into it.

Gou tried to pull herself into the boat before getting help from Toraichi.  Haru jumped back in before pulling his skin off to return to his human form.  He shook his hair much like a dog would.

Rin wiggled his tail when Toraichi set him down, trying to dry it off faster.

"Don't worry, there are towels on the ship," Toraichi said, ruffling his hair before shouting up to the sailor on deck to hoist up the boat.

Gou shivered a bit in the cool evening air.  She wanted to curl up under a mound of blankets.  Haru scooted over and wrapped his skin around himself and gou like a blanket.

Shivering a bit as well, Rin scooted closer to Toraichi.  The man shrugged off his  _ haori _ and wrapped it around Rin's shoulders.

"I'll take you to the cabin so you can dry off and get warm."

Souhei was at the edge of the ship when the boat got pulled up.  "I figured you'd need an extra set of hands,"  He smiled at the kids.  So they really were mermaids... It was amazing.

Rin started wiggling excitedly again as Souhei lifted him out of the boat.  Getting carried by the humans was fun because it made Rin feel like he was taller.

Gou clung tightly to Toraichi when he picked her up.  She was so glad to have spent the afternoon swimming again.  She had missed the ocean so much!

Toraichi made sure he had Gou securely in his arms before he leaned down and offered a hand to Haru.  "Do you want to walk or be carried?"

Haru shifted a little before taking Toraichi's hand.  "I'll walk."  Toraichi and Souhei had their arms full…

"Alright," he said, helping Haru climb onto the deck.

Rin wiggled a bit more in Souhei's arms, trying to turn around to grin at his siblings.

Since Toraichi was trying to balance both Haru and herself, Gou stayed still in his arms. Haru, surprisingly, continued to hold onto Toraichi's arm even after he climbed onto the deck.

Smiling, Toraichi let Haru cling to him as he and Souhei headed to his cabin.  "Did you three have fun?"

"Yeah!  I missed racing Haru!" Rin said, grinning brightly as he wriggled around in Souhei's arms to look at Toraichi.

Haru nodded a little.

Gou gave Toraichi a huge smile.  "I missed swimming around and fishing!  It was so much fun!" she wiggled happily.

"Well, we'll try to make sure you kids can swim often, alright?"

Gou perked up at that.  "Really?"

"Yes.  We'll have to be careful, obviously, but if it's safe, you can swim," Toraichi said, shifting Gou slightly so Souhei could grab the keys to his cabin out of his pants pocket.

Haru smiled a little at that.

Once the cabin was open, Toraichi carefully set Gou down on the bed before grabbing towels for the three kids.

Rin was set down beside his sister and his wiggled his tail, already feeling the tingling sensation of it drying out and turning into legs.

Gou wiggled a little, wanting to be dry so she could get on her nightgown and go to bed.  Haru clung tightly to his skin.

Toraichi handed the towels to the kids with a smile.  "Dry up and get some sleep, alright?"

Gou nodded as she gently toweled her tail.  Once she had legs, she set about trying to dry off all her hair.  Haru hesitated a little before starting to dry off with the towel.

Rin rubbed his tail dry before trying to dry his long hair, which was now mostly falling out of his braid.

Gou looked up at Toraichi.  "Can you fix our braids again?"

Smiling softly, Toraichi nodded.  "Of course I can."

Grinning, Rin pulled on his nightgown before taking his hair out of the braid completely.  "Me first!"

Gou laughed a little.  "Could you tell us a story too?"

"A story?  What kind of story?" Toraichi asked, grabbing his comb and settling himself beside Rin.  He started to gently brush through the tangles, making sure not to yank on the boy's hair.

"You could tell them the story about how the mermaids helped out town," Souhei supplied, smiling at the kids.

Gou nodded eagerly at that, and Haru looked up from putting his nightgown on.

Rin glanced back at Toraichi, eyes wide with curiosity.

"Well, it was a long time ago, when my mother and Souhei's mother were children.  There was a horrible storm and the fishing boats were stuck out at sea.  My mother says our town has always been a safe place for your people so I suppose they decided to help us.  The kept all the fishermen safe during the storm, because there was a good chance they could have drowned."

Gou leaned closer and asked, "How did they do that? Did they pull them to shore?"  She had never heard of merpeople  _ saving _ humans.

"It would seem so.  The boats were brought to safety.  Fishing boats are much smaller than this ship, so I suppose it would be easier to move them..." Toraichi said, shrugging a bit.  "My mother said no one was really sure  _ how _ the mermaids did it but they saved everyone."

Gou nodded softly, trying to picture her and Rin pushing a boat to safety...  Maybe they could all live in peace, somehow.

"That's so awesome!" Rin said, grinning brightly.  "Maybe they used magic!"  Sure, other than language ability, Rin didn't know about having anything else that could be considered magic.  "Haru, what if we have special magic like that?"

"It might be."  Haru was well aware that selkies had a magic of their own... that humans were often after.  It wasn't much of a stretch to think that mermaids might have them as well.

“Wow," Rin breathed, awe clear in his voice.  Maybe he could discover his magic soon!  That way he could help people!

Toraichi laughed softly as his fingers worked Rin's hair into a braid.  "I'm sure you three will find out more about yourselves as you grow.  Everyone does with time."

 


End file.
